Personalised Approach to Atherosclerotic Cardiovascular Disease: The Future is Here

This plenary session began with a focus on cutting edge research into the role of the immune system in atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD). Firstly, Chiara Giannerelli, New York University (NYU) Langone Health and NYU Grossman School of Medicine, New York, USA, emphasised the value of deep phenotyping of atherosclerotic disease to understand the immune mechanisms involved in cardiovascular (CV) risk. She presented data demonstrating an enrichment of phenotypically distinct cluster of differentiation (CD) 4+ and CD8+ T cells in advanced atherosclerotic plaque compared with paired blood and explained how this data can be used to identify drugs with the potential to be repurposed to reduce CV risk. Secondly, Eicke Latz, Institute of Innate Immunity, University of Bonn, Germany, presented data from his research team that begins to explain how the Western diet might lead to chronic inflammation and atherogenesis, implicating cholesterol crystals and short-chain sphingomyelins in the reprogramming of granulocyte-monocyte precursor cells (GMP) in this process. The arguments for greater use of imaging and molecular biomarkers in clinical practice were presented by Wolfgang Koenig, German Heart Center Munich, Technical University of Munich, Germany, who speculated that the assessment of CV risk in the future is likely to harness big data and machine learning to achieve accurate risk assessment in individual patients. Finally, Amit Khera, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, USA, covered the role of genetic factors in the prediction of CV disease (CVD), explaining that a combination of traditional risk factors and polygenic scoring techniques provides the most accurate estimation of CVD risk.