Abstract

Plasma Extracellular Vesicles for Cardiovascular Disease

Dominique PV de Kleijn, Professor Experimental Vascular Surgery; Professor Netherlands Heart Institute, University Medical Center Utrecht

Cardiovascular Disease (CVD) is with the cardiovascular events of Ischemic Heart Disease and Stroke, the number 1 and 2 cause of death in the world and expect to increase especially in Asia. In this presentation we use plasma extracellular vesicle (EV) protein content of vesicles from plasma subfractions on plasma of stroke and TIA patients after carotid atherectomy (CEA). AtheroExpress the large ongoing CEA biobank gives us the unique possibility to compare the different biomarker sources of EV, plasma and carotid plaque in association with onset symptoms and risk of a second Major Adverse Cardiovascular Event (MACE: myocardial infarction, stroke or cardiovascular death). We also evaluated if EV proteins could contribute to identification  of patients at high risk for  MACE or Major Adverse Limb Event (MALE: repeated surgery or limb amputation) after surgery in Peripheral Artery Disease (PAD) patients. Identification of such high risk patients is very important for possible (expensive) add-on pharmaceutical therapy or the decision to operate or not.