Looking for ways to boost blood vessel growth in peripheral arterial disease

Epigenetics and lncRNA control of angiogenesis

BHF Career Re-entry Research Fellow Tijana Mitic is studying ways to restore blood supply in the legs when blood vessels become damaged, for instance in peripheral arterial disease. Peripheral arterial disease results from a build-up of fatty deposits in the arteries supplying blood to the legs. This fatty plaque restricts blood flow to the limbs and the blockage can be so severe that leg amputation is required. The aim of treatment is to restore blood supply to the tissues by encouraging new blood vessels to grow, but this is not possible with current treatments. In this project, Dr Mitic will study molecules in the endothelial cells that line our blood vessels, called long non coding RNAs, or lncRNAs. lncRNAs help to control whether genes in the endothelial cell are switched on or off, and scientists think they do this by interacting with gene regulating proteins. Dr Mitic believes that in this way lncRNAs might help to turn off genes involved in new blood vessel formation and that blocking lncRNA function could encourage blood vessel growth. But first, she needs to understand more about how lncRNAs work during blood vessel formation. Dr Mitic will investigate what lncRNAs do in the endothelial cells and confirm if they affect genes involved in blood vessel formation. She will test whether targeting lncRNAs using a drug could speed up repair of injured blood vessels. If successful, lncRNAs could become an important new treatment target to help people with damaged blood vessels due to circulatory diseases.