Patrick C.H. Hsieh, MD, PhD, Byron Chen, PhD | Institute of Biomedical Sciences, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan
Competition Sponsor: Academia Sinica
Awardee Year: 2020
Myocardial infarction (MI) remains the leading cause of mortality across all industrialized nations and the mortality rate of patients suffering from acute MI increases with age. In aged mice, the immune- inflammatory responses and cardiac repair capability decreases after MI. Moreover, a recent study shows that the gut microbial composition is capable of affecting the host immune homeostasis after MI. As an important immune modulator, we therefore hypothesized that gut microbiota may have an impact on the efficiency of post-MI cardiac repair in aged hosts. The correlation between gut microbiota and the severity of MI in aged hosts, and the mechanism(s) underlying this correlation remains unclear. Therefore, understanding how gut microbiota communicates with the aged host to protect the hearts after MI is essential. Characterizing the mechanisms underlying these effects will not only enhance our understanding of the use of antibiotics during the treatment of MI, but also allow the development of new cardiac protective therapies using probiotics or metabolite supplementation.
To learn more about this proposal, email healthylongevity@nas.edu.