Journal Browser

► Journal Browser

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Domenico D'Amario

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor

Department of Cardiovascular and Thoracic Sciences, Fondazione Policlinico Universitario A Gemelli IRCCS, Rome, Italy
Interests: coronary microvascular dysfunction; ischemia with non-obstructive coronary artery disease; heart failure; heart failure with preserved ejection fraction; basic science; cardiovascular disease; coronary artery disease; percutaneous coronary intervention; clinical trial

Dr. Francesco Canonico

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor

Department of Cardiovascular Science, Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, Rome, Italy
Interests: cardiomyopathy; cardiovascular disease; meta-inflammation; dystro-phinopathies; Duchenne muscular dystrophy; induced pluripotent stem cells; cellular modeling
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

In the past two decades, coronary microvascular dysfunction (CMD) has emerged as a key feature of many clinical conditions: in some instances, these abnormalities represent epiphenomena, whereas in others, they represent risk markers or be involved in the pathogenesis of myocardial diseases.

According to the classical clinical classification proposed by Crea F and Camici P, CMD can be classified into four types: dysfunction occurring in the absence of epicardial coronary artery and myocardial diseases, dysfunction in the presence of myocardial diseases, dysfunction in the presence of obstructive epicardial coronary artery diseases, and iatrogenic dysfunction. Importantly, these presentations are not at variance and might coexist.

CMD, independently from the cause, affects the walls and inner lining of the small vessels leading to impaired vasodilatory function and/or spasms, and finally reduced blood supply to the myocardium.

Unfortunately, none of the existing therapies address specifically CMD.

The purpose of this Special Issue is to highlight not only the current knowledge regarding the mechanisms, diagnosis, and treatment of CMD, but also explore putative clinical and biological markers, and evaluate novel therapeutic strategies in this field.

In this Special Issue, original articles and reviews are welcome. We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Dr. Domenico D'Amario
Dr. Francesco Canonico
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Journal of Clinical Medicine is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

Coronary microvascular dysfunction
Angina
Microvascular endothelial dysfunction
Myocardial ischemia
Coronary spasm
Ischemia with non-obstructive coronary artery disease
Vasospastic angina
Heart failure
Heart failure with preserved ejection fraction
Precision medicine

Published Papers (2 papers)

Download All Papers

Research

Jump to: Review

16 pages, 1805 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Molecular Hallmarks of Ischemia with Non-Obstructive Coronary Arteries: The “INOCA versus Obstructive CCS” Challenge

by Alice Bonanni, Alessia d’Aiello, Daniela Pedicino, Marianna Di Sario, Ramona Vinci, Myriana Ponzo, Pellegrino Ciampi, Denise Lo Curto, Cristina Conte, Francesco Cribari, Francesco Canonico, Giulio Russo, Rocco Antonio Montone, Carlo Trani, Anna Severino, Filippo Crea and Giovanna Liuzzo

J. Clin. Med. 2022, 11(6), 1711; https://doi.org/10.3390/jcm11061711 - 19 Mar 2022

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2733

Abstract

Up to 4 million patients with signs of myocardial ischemia have no obstructive coronary artery disease (CAD). The absence of precise guidelines for diagnosis and treatment in non-obstructive CAD encourages the scientific community to fill the gap knowledge, to provide non-invasive and less expensive diagnostic tools. The aim of our study was to explore the biological profile of Ischemia with Non-Obstructive Coronary Arteries (INOCA) patients with microvascular dysfunction compared to patients presenting with obstructive chronic coronary syndrome (ObCCS) in order to find specific hallmarks of each clinical condition. We performed a gene expression array from peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) isolated from INOCA (n = 18) and ObCCS (n = 20) patients. Our results showed a significantly reduced gene expression of molecules involved in cell adhesion, signaling, vascular motion, and inflammation in INOCA as compared to the ObCCS group. In detail, we found lower expression of Platelet and Endothelial Cell Adhesion Molecule 1 (CD31, p < 0.0001), Intercellular Adhesion Molecule-1 (ICAM1, p = 0.0004), Tumor Necrosis Factor (TNF p = 0.0003), Transferrin Receptor (TFRC, p = 0.002), and Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A (VEGFA, p = 0.0006) in the INOCA group compared with ObCCS. Meanwhile, we observed an increased expression of Hyaluronidase (HYAL2, p < 0.0001) in INOCA patients in comparison to ObCCS. The distinct expression of molecular biomarkers might allow an early and non-invasive differential diagnosis between ObCCS and INOCA, improving clinical management and treatment options, in the era of personalized medicine. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Mechanisms, Diagnosis, and Therapy of Microvascular Dysfunction in Heart Diseases: Towards Precision Medicine from Bench to Bedside and Beyond)

► Show Figures

Graphical abstract

Review

Jump to: Research

18 pages, 741 KiB

Open AccessReview

Advances and Challenges in Biomarkers Use for Coronary Microvascular Dysfunction: From Bench to Clinical Practice

by Erica Rocco, Maria Chiara Grimaldi, Alessandro Maino, Luigi Cappannoli, Daniela Pedicino, Giovanna Liuzzo and Luigi Marzio Biasucci

J. Clin. Med. 2022, 11(7), 2055; https://doi.org/10.3390/jcm11072055 - 06 Apr 2022

Cited by 12 | Viewed by 2547

Abstract

Coronary microvascular dysfunction (CMD) is related to a broad variety of clinical scenarios in which cardiac microvasculature is morphologically and functionally affected, and it is associated with impaired responses to vasoactive stimuli. Although the prevalence of CMD involves about half of all patients with chronic coronary syndromes and more than 20% of those with acute coronary syndrome, the diagnosis of CMD is often missed, leading to the underestimation of its clinical importance. The established and validated techniques for the measurement of coronary microvascular function are invasive and expensive. An ideal method to assess endothelial dysfunction should be accurate, non-invasive, cost-effective and accessible. There are varieties of biomarkers available, potentially involved in microvascular disease, but none have been extensively validated in this heterogeneous clinical population. The investigation of potential biomarkers linked to microvascular dysfunction might improve the assessment of the diagnosis, risk stratification, disease progression and therapy response. This review article offers an update about traditional and novel potential biomarkers linked to CMD. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Mechanisms, Diagnosis, and Therapy of Microvascular Dysfunction in Heart Diseases: Towards Precision Medicine from Bench to Bedside and Beyond)

► Show Figures