Jahresbericht der Klinik - Klinik für Kardiologie - UniversitätsSpital ...

Giovanni G. Camici, PhD
Research Coordinator & Group Leader
Basic Cardiovascular Research
Vascular Aging, ACS and Stroke
Due to the progressively aging population, aging represents a crucial
research topic and vascular aging is the research focus of the group
headed by Dr. Giovanni G. Camici. Aging is a major risk factor for the
development of cardiovascular diseases, however, its direct effects
on the cardiovascular systems are not clear since it always occurs in
parallel to atherosclerosis and other risk factors.
Mice offer an ideal model to study aging since they do not spontaneously
develop atherosclerosis or age-related risk factors. However,
they still show an age-dependent decay in vascular function [Fig. 2
and 3]. Based on this model, Dr. Simon Stämpfli recently demonstrated
that aging per se – contrary to the common belief – does not
worsen arterial thrombosis, underscoring the importance of controlling
modifiable risk factors.
In this context, several genes implicated in promoting vascular aging
and age-related cardiovascular disease are a major research focus;
amongst these the adaptor protein p66Shc, the MAP Kinase JNK and
PKC beta. Recently, F. C. Franzeck, D. Hof and R. D. Spescha showed
that some of these genes, namely p66Shc, are similarly upregulated
in patients suffering from acute coronary syndromes [Fig. 1] underlining
that aging genes also play a role in cardiovascular disease.
Fig. 2 Giovanni G. Camici (PhD) and Stephan Keller (Chief Technician)
are assessing the morphological alterations of an aged mouse brain
after middle cerebral artery occlusion / reperfusion.
1.5 × 10 −4
p = 0.0249
p = 0.007
ΔCt (p66shc / S18 rRNA)
1.0 × 10 −4
p = 0.367
5.0 × 10 −5 0
Control
CAD
ACS
Fig. 1 p66Shc mRNA expression, relative to expression of 18S rRNA,
in peripheral blood monocytes from angiographically confirmed
CAD-free controls, stable CAD patients and patients with ACS.
Fig. 3 Cerebral arteries of young and aged mice in the process of
being homogenized prior to protein analysis.