Grant: Travel Awards - Institute Community Support

Introduction: Atherosclerosis is a disease in which plaque, containing fat, builds up inside arteries. This process lead to the limitation of oxygen-rich blood flow to organs and is now recognized as the most leading cause of cardiovascular-related death world wild. In our previous works, we have shown that production of a protein called Heat Shock Protein 27 (HSP27), in blood vessels, protect against atherosclerosis development by promoting their reparation. This effect is more pronounced in females compared to male. The current project aims to understand how this protein interacts with others, such as a gene activator called beta-catenin, into vascular cells to promote this positive effect. Methods and Results: Immature vascular cells called Endothelial Progenitor Cells (EPCs) were used for all experiments. Those cells were first treated with oestrogen to promote the expression of HSP27. Our results show that HSP27 is more expressed in cells upon oestrogen treatment and this expression is followed by the binding of HSP27 to beta-catenin which, in turn, can promote the survival of EPCs. When the expression of HSP27 is blocked, beta-catenin expression tends to be reduced as well and this effect leads to cells death. Conclusion: Our preliminary results show that HSP27 is important for survival of vascular cells which may play a role in blood vessel reparation during atherosclesis initiation.