Examples of Key Discoveries from ICON-✘ Collaborators:
1
Short-term treatment of adult hypertensive rats with angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors produces persistent reduction in vascular hypertrophy and arterial pressure and long-term changes in the myocardium that protect against future cardiac inflammation, fibrosis, and dysfunction. (Hale et al., 2011, D'Souza et al., 2015)
2
Women with preeclampsia and gestational hypertension are at an increased risk for type 2 diabetes, hypercholesterolemia and hypertension for several decades post-pregnancy. (Stuart et al., 2018)
3
GABA-B receptor knockout models resulted in sex differences in neuronal and vascular development of the paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus in females vs. males. (Stratton et al., 2014; Frahm et al. 2012)
4
Development of a multidisciplinary approach to treating young women who survived myocardial infarction due to spontaneous coronary artery dissection reflects need for sex-dependent care for maintaining heart health. (Wood et al., 2018)
5
Transient inhibition of angiotensin converting enzyme produces lasting memory in fibroblasts to limit future progression to cardiac fibrosis. Single cell RNA sequencing reveals an expansion of a pool of fibroblasts in a low activation state, and a transcriptome that is overall less fibrogenic. “Transient ACE inhibition suppresses future fibrogenic capacity and heterogeneity of cardiac fibroblast subpopulations”. (AM Garvin, TM Hale, et al. 202)
6
History of infertility is associated with greater risk of heart failure, specifically heart failure with preserved ejection fraction, highlighting an important but underrecognized reproductive risk factor for cardiovascular disease in women. (Lau ES et al.,2022)
7
Worse arterial stiffness and load in women vs men with heart failure with preserved ejection fraction is associated with abnormal left ventricular responses to exercise, with important implications for potential targeted therapies for women with HFpEF (Lau ES et al., 2022)
8
In utero exposure to dexamethasone produces long-term female-specific dysregulation of cardiovascular function that is ameliorated by blockade of the renin angiotensin system. “In utero dexamethasone exposure sex-selectively dysregulates cardiovascular function in adult rats” 1;322(4):H597-H606. PMID: 35179975 (Madhavpeddi L, et al., 2022)