Atherosclerosis
Atherosclerosis is characterized by the accumulation of fatty deposits containing cholesterol in artery walls. These fat deposits are called plaques. Plaques can grow, destabilize and rupture, resulting in an obstruction of the blood flow through the artery. If this happens in an artery supporting the heart it leads to a heart attack, if the artery supports the brain it results in a stroke.
Heart attack and stroke are the major cardiovascular events leading to pain, disability and death. Elevated blood lipids, especially high cholesterol (LDL-cholesterol (low-density lipoprotein cholesterol)), cause the formation of atherosclerotic plaques and long-term exposure can lead to heart attack and stroke. Â Maintaining low levels of blood lipids is known to prevent the formation of atherosclerotic plaques and effective lipid-lowering therapy can reduce the burden of existing plaques.
Plaque formation is associated with the recruitment of immune cells from the blood which play key roles in inflammation. Inflammation can accelerate the formation of atherosclerotic plaques and render plaques more prone to rupture. This might explain why some individuals have a higher risk for heart attack or stroke as compared to others.
We believe that more personalized approaches to select an optimal lipid-lowering therapy based on knowledge of how biological processes are different in individuals and how immune cells accelerate plaque development, can help to prevent heart attack and stroke more effectively.
Our technology
Atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease is the #1 cause of death in the world and increased blood cholesterol affects more than 50% of the US and EU population. Even though several lipid-lowering drugs are available most persons remain with elevated blood lipids leaving them at increased risk for heart attack and stroke.
Currently it is difficult to identify individuals with high residual risk for heart attack and stroke after lipid-lowering has been started. Achieving low blood lipid levels in high-risk individuals is crucial. MONCYTE Health can help doctors to find a personalized treatment strategy right from the start that will enable high risk individuals to achieve optimal blood lipid levels fast, effectively preventing heart attack and stroke.
The MONCYTE Health technology provides insight into immune cells that contribute to inflammation in atherosclerotic plaques, helping to better understand differences in cardiovascular risk. We can combine, for the first time, treatment recommendation with risk assessment by quantifying differences in lipid uptake and storage in white blood cells, including monocytes. This will enable prioritization of more effective combination therapies for those persons who need them.
Our technology does not measure a substance in blood like other biomarkers, it quantifies biological differences in cellular lipid uptake and storage processes that contribute to elevated blood lipids and action of lipid-lowering drugs. By focusing on biological differences between individuals we provide unique knowledge to doctors that can enable identification of people who don’t have the biological capacity to achieve blood cholesterol target levels with statin medication only.
Elevated blood lipids often go beyond blood cholesterol (LDL-C) and extend to elevated lipoprotein(a) (Lp(a)) and triglyceride-rich lipoproteins. New drugs will enter the market for Lp(a) and triglyceride-rich lipoproteins making treatment decisions more complex. MONCYTE Health aims to help in these complex settings.