Research from the University of Strathclyde has revealed that a “sophisticated system” used by the cells lining our blood vessels to communicate with each other may falter in the first stages of cardiovascular disease (CVD).

Cardiovascular diseases represent one of the biggest killers in Scotland, with around 50 people every day dying from heart and circulatory disease in Scotland according to the British Heart Foundation (BHF) Scotland.

While scientists know the development of CVD originates from the cells lining the body’s blood vessels – known as the endothelial cells, forming the endothelium – how and why this works is not fully understood.

In their recently published study, a team from the University of Strathclyde, in collaboration with researchers in Stockholm and Aberdeen, said it is a “well-developed but poorly understood communication system operates between cells”.

This research has shed light on the organisation and interaction of these cells to rapidly detect and process to a given physiological stimulus. The endothelium lines blood vessels as a single layer of cells, acting as a “central control hub” for cardiovascular functions.

Professor John McCarron, of Strathclyde Institute of Pharmacy and Biomedical Sciences, said:

“Cells in the endothelium are a major target for the control of cardiovascular disease and are often treated as being a uniform population of cells. Our findings show the cells are not uniform but specialised to particular types of function.”

The team found that clusters of cells are spaced along the endothelium, each dedicated to a given stimulus and able to respond to varying intensities of that stimulus. CVD cause more than one in four deaths in Scotland and understanding the initial processes in its development could help address the cellular level problems associated with CVD and improve outcomes.

In this study, researchers focused on the nature of the communication system, explaining that the endothelium regulates our cardiovascular system by detecting and responding to physiological stimuli.

With advanced imaging techniques, they showed that it is able to do this very quickly, interpreting stimuli and transferring signals – or communicating – across the endothelium at high speeds to generate a synchronized response.

A high degree of synchronisation is achieved across the spaced clusters of endothelial cells thanks to short connection path lengths for relaying information.

This helps coordinate cardiovascular function in the body, with the most well-connected clusters distributed along the endothelium act as hubs, lending stability to cardiovascular function.

Professor McCarron said:

“There is a well-organised, rapid and robust communication system that shares information so that co-ordinated responses occur. The communication system offers new targets for therapy development and insights into why developing treatments has proven so difficult.” 

Control of the system, researchers say, may result from several “driver nodes”, specialised endothelial cells – but the process for these is still to be determined. By targeting driver nodes, therapies can be developed to intervene and steer the system to a pre-disease state. This research, funded by the Wellcome Trust and BHF provides insight into the mechanisms of CVD, but clinical services access and patient data lacking too.

Understanding the mechanisms behind CVD is only part of the picture for Scotland as it tries to address the toll taken by heart and circulatory illness.

Consultant Cardiologist and Chair of the National Advisory Committee for Heart Disease, Dr David Murdoch, previously told healthandcare.scot:

“We are working hard to improve access to prevention, efficient diagnosis with modern cardiac imaging and the latest treatments.”

Although death rates from CVD are declining as people live longer, we previously reported that BHF and cardiologists were calling for an urgent investment of funding in heart disease.

Consultant Cardiologist, Dr David Northridge said the “lack of consistent data on cardiac care” is a huge concern, limiting the understanding of the scale of services and people’s access to them across Scotland.

Read more: Scottish doctors at forefront of heart care; Scotland ‘underinvesting' in heart disease; Rapid 4D heart scanner opens in north east

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