Seungeon Yeon
The effect and mechanisms of natural products on vascular calcification in vitro and in vivo.
Vascular calcification is a common finding in atherosclerosis, chronic kidney disease and type 2 diabetes patients leading to an increase risk for adverse cardiovascular events. This study hypothesises that sclerostin, a glycoprotein that inhibits bone formation and mineralisation, plays an important role in protecting against vascular calcification formation and progression.The aims of the study are to assess if sclerostin deficiency and excess modifies the predisposition for vascular calcification and progression; and if natural products can increase the expression of sclerostin and suppress vascular calcification development and atherosclerosis progression.
Interventions targeting arterial sclerostin could offer a new therapy for vascular diseases. Therapies modifying sclerostin are currently being investigated as treatment for osteoporosis. Therefore, better understating of the role of this pathway in arterial disease is urgently required.
Seungyeon has completed a Masters of Research at Western Sydney University, using ex vivo models to investigate the effects of Sailuotong (SLT) on cerebral vascular reactivity. Her work revealed an unreported pharmacological property and mechanism of action of SLT, which helped to explain a previous clinical observation of SLT regarding an increase in cerebral blood flow.
Supervisors:
Dr Mitchell Low; Professor Dennis Chang; Professor Chun Guang Li; Dr Sai Seto
