The project ‘The vicious circle of protein modification-induced chronic inflammation’ by Dr Marleen van Greevenbroek (Dept of Internal Medicine) and Prof. Leendert Trouw (LUMC) received k€ 800 funding from ZonMw through its Open Competition Programme. In this collaboration, they combine the expertise of Maastricht University in large population studies with cell experiments and animal research at Leiden University. 

Cardiovascular diseases and autoimmune diseases are becoming increasingly common and their simultaneous rise suggests a shared underlying cause. Understanding the biological mechanism behind such shared cause opens possibilities to develop therapies that address both conditions. Lifestyle habits, aging, and/or environmental factors, can affect proteins in the body. Such ‘altered’, i.e. post-translationally modified, proteins (PTMs) may trigger a low-grade inflammatory response. In addition, the immune system produces anti-PTM antibodies because PTMs are not recognised as ‘self’. This further exacerbates the inflammatory response, partly through antibody-induced complement activation. In this project we will investigate the relevance of PTM-induced inflammation in the development of cardiovascular diseases and autoimmune diseases and the possibility to intervene in this process by local suppression of complement-mediated low-grade inflammation.