General
On Thursday November 6th, the Tager seminar series will continue with a new lecture by Dr. Jeffrey Kroon, who is an Associate Professor and Principal Investigator at the Department of Experimental Vascular Medicine, Amsterdam UMC, location AMC, The Netherlands. He is also a Guest Professor in the Laboratory of Angiogenesis and Vascular Metabolism at VIB-KU Leuven, Belgium. His research group uses a combination of in vitro (2D and 3D), ex vivo, in vivo, and patient samples in combination with bioinformatics approaches, to study how endothelial metabolism and the immunomodulatory functions of endothelial cells regulate immunity and inflammation in cardiovascular disease.
From glycolysis to beyond: Endothelial metabolism as gatekeeper for inflammation in atherogenesis
Endothelial cells form the critical lining of blood vessels, orchestrating vascular health through tightly regulated metabolic pathways. In atherosclerosis, these cells undergo pivotal metabolic transformations, notably heightened glycolysis and dysregulated fatty acid oxidation (FAO), which fuel inflammation and facilitate leukocyte infiltration into the vessel wall.
Impaired FAO in endothelial cells disrupts barrier function and amplifies inflammatory signaling, while excess glycolysis sustains immune cell recruitment and plaque instability. Using advanced experimental models, we have shown that modulating both glycolytic and FAO pathways can restore endothelial integrity and curb vascular inflammation.
This lecture will present recent insights on how the balance between glycolysis and FAO in endothelial cells serves as a metabolic gatekeeper for vascular inflammation, with a focus on novel strategies to therapeutically target these pathways in atherosclerosis.