Grant: Doctoral Award - Frederick Banting and Charles Best Canada Graduate Scholarships

The leading cause of death in developed countries is heart attack. Heart attacks occur when plaque (atherosclerosis) blocks the blood vessels. There are many environmental causes of heart attacks and atherosclerosis, including diet, exercise, and high blood cholesterol. However, these factors alone cannot account for all incidence of heart disease. Recently, infection has been associated in clinical research with the development of atherosclerosis. The human body comes into contact with harmful germs every day of our lives. One such common infection is the bacteria, Chlamydia pneumoniae (Cpn). By the age of 65, Cpn will have infected 75% of the population. Cpn has been found directly in plaques of heart attack patients. Cpn can live inside of the cells found in the blood vessel walls. In the development of a plaque, cells send and receive signals, resulting in the harmful changes. The nucleus is the central command centre of the cell, in charge of interpreting and responding to these signals. Previously, our lab has found that bad cholesterol (LDL) can affect transport of signals into the nucleus, leading to plaque development. It is possible, that as Cpn hijacks cell function, it alters the transport of normal, healthy signals to the nucleus. This change would then lead to the unhealthy characteristics of a blood vessel cell in an atherosclerotic plaque. We will measure changes in the movement of signals into the nucleus after Cpn infection, in order to understand the way Cpn can control cell activity. This study will provide us with a better understanding of the role of Cpn in heart disease. Since such a large portion of the population has been exposed to Cpn by late adulthood, it is important to understand its contribution, for both treatment and prevention of heart attacks. If Cpn can be proven as a risk factor, early treatment options could be used to save many Canadian lives.