Project: “Gut-brain interactions modulate immune response in Hypertensive Heart Disease”

Acronym	Gut-brain-immune-HHD (Reference Number: JTC-2019_056)
Duration	01/05/2020 - 30/04/2023
Project Topic	Hypertension affects the remodeling of the heart through interactions between different organ systems, thus hindering mechanistic understanding of the disease and therapeutic advancement. In addition to the nervous and immune systems, the contribution of several microbes residing in the gut has recently been revealed to be strongly associated with hypertension. While the role of these microbes in pathogenesis of hypertensive heart disease is still unclear, recent findings suggest that they may be targets for much-needed novel preventive and curative interventions. This joint project aims to decipher the mechanistic relationship between gut microbes, neuronal and immune activity, and the disease progression from hypertension to damage of the heart. We will focus our investigation on microbiota-mediated modulation of neural activity and immune cell activation locally in the gut and distantly at the major lymphoid organ, the spleen, and the heart. To translate our findings to human pathology, we will perform in-depth characterization of microbiome and associated cardiac damage in hypertensive patients. Furthermore, neural circuitries relaying the microbiota signal from the gut to the heart will be elucidated. Vice versa, we will address the role of the central nervous system in the alteration of the gut barrier function, thereby contributing to dysregulated microbiota compositions and functions. Finally, we will identify novel bioactive metabolites with the ability to suppress neural hyperactivation and inflammation, thus preventing maladaptive remodeling of the heart in hypertension.
Network	ERA-CVD
Call	ERA-CVD Joint Transnational Call 2019

Project partner

Number	Name	Role	Country
1	Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine	Coordinator	Germany
2	IRCCS Neuromed	Partner	Italy
3	Toronto General Hospital Research Institute	Partner	Canada
4	Jagiellonian University Medical College	Partner	Poland