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Volume 2
Journal of Clinical Diagnosis and Treatment
Annual Nephrology & Chronic Diseases 2019
May 20-21, 2019
Page 12
Nephrology
Chronic Diseases
May 20-21, 2019 London, UK
19
th
Annual Conference on
3
rd
International Conference on
&
Dipak P Ramji
Cardiff University, United Kingdom
Dipak P Ramji, J Clinical Diagnosis and Treatment, Volume 2
Atherosclerosis: Mechanisms, current therapies and the potential of natural products
in the prevention and treatment of the disease
A
therosclerosis, a chronic inflammatory disorder of medium and large arteries and the underlying cause of
heart attacks and stroke, is responsible for more global deaths than any other disease. A slight reduction
in morbidity and mortality from atherosclerosis and its complications has been seen recently, at least in
the western world, due to lifestyle changes and pharmaceutical interventions (e.g. statins). However, the
global burden from this disease is expected to worsen in the near future because of recent increases in risk
factors such as diabetes and obesity. Current pharmaceutical treatments for atherosclerosis are associated with
considerable residual risk for cardiovascular disease together with various side effects. With the exception
of few successes (e.g. ezetimibe, PCSK9 inhibitors), many pharmaceutical leads against established targets
have proved disappointing at the clinical level. It is therefore important that further research is carried out
on the molecular basis of atherosclerosis together with alternative therapies for its prevention and treatment.
Natural products have received substantial recent interest in the prevention and treatment of atherosclerosis.
However, more research is required that addresses the molecular mechanisms underlying the beneficial effects
of natural products together with large clinical trials that evaluate their efficacy. We have recently initiated
studies on the effects of many natural products, including certain polyunsaturated fatty acids, polyphenols and
probiotics, on several key monocyte/macrophage processes associated with atherosclerosis in vitro and various
risk factors in vivo together with the underlyingmechanisms. Thesewill be presented in the context ofmolecular
mechanisms underlying atherogenesis together with current therapies and those that are being developed.
Biography
Dipak P Ramji is Professor of Cardiovascular Science at the School of Biosciences in Cardiff University. He received his BSc (Hons) degree
(Biochemistry) and his PhD (Molecular Biology) from the University of Leeds. This was followed by post-doctoral research at the European
Molecular Biology Laboratory (Heidelberg) and the Istituto di Ricerche di Biologia Molecolare P. Angeletti (Rome) with fellowships from the
Royal Society and the EU. He joined Cardiff University in 1992 and completed 25 years of service in August 2017. His research is focused
on understanding how the immune and inflammatory responses regulate cellular processes in heart disease with the goal of attaining deeper
mechanistic insight and identifying preventative/therapeutic agents. His research has been funded by several organisations and received
continuous funding from the British Heart Foundation since 1997. He has published over 150 research articles (h index 34 and i10 index 68
with over 5700 citations). He is an Editorial Board member of 16 international journals; regular organising committee member, speaker and
track/session chair at international conferences on heart disease; involved in grant evaluation for over 20 organisations; and supervised over
25 PhD students. In addition to research, he is involved in teaching and administration, including Postgraduate Tutor for the Biomedicine di-
vision at the School of Biosciences and external examiner for Biochemistry and Biomedical Sciences at the University of Reading and King’s
College London.
Ramji@Cardiff.ac.uk