Research projects

Atherosclerosis is a chronic inflammatory disease that develops in different stages. In simple terms, one could say that initially the most critical aspect is the infiltration of leukocytes in response to a chemoattractant gradient through a vascular wall that is damaged or activated due to different inflammatory factors. Once the atherosclerotic plaque has been established, with the formation and thickening of the internal layer of smooth vascular muscle tissue, it can develop into a stable fibrous cap (with less possibilities of acute complications such as thrombosis or fracture) or become a permanently active inflammatory infiltration, which in turn can favour the formation of new blood vessels in a process called angiogenesis (with high possibilities of acute events). During these stages, there are phenomena of tissue migration and invasion of the different types of cells, as well as a remodelling of the extracellular matrix. In these stages, different proteases, enzymes capable of processing the extracellular structure to enable cellular movement as well as the deposition or not of the new matrix, carry out important functions. Using animal models that develop atherosclerosis, the functions that the matrix metalloproteinases MT1-MMP and MT4-MMP and their regulator EMMPRIN/CD147 can carry out during the different stages of the pathology are analysed. The possibility of developing molecular tools that inhibit the function of these proteins could open new channels for the treatment of this disease.