Hypertension – or high blood pressure – is a major health concern because it significantly increases the risk of death from stroke, atherosclerosis and other diseases. In fact, it is the leading cause of death worldwide. Increased psychological stress can contribute to developing and sustaining hypertension and cardiovascular disease development. 

Immune cell activation and inflammation are fundamental to hypertension and cardiovascular disease development. The EU-funded project SIHI has identified some of the physical mechanisms linking inflammation and hypertension. The results are a step towards more effective treatments for heart disease – helping to save lives and reduce the crippling long-term health care costs associated with treating this disease.

How to treat hypertension

“This project addressed a novel mechanism for the development of high blood pressure in humans,” explains Marie Curie International Fellow Paul Marvar, a US-based scientist who worked alongside Professor Julian Paton at the University of Bristol on SIHI. “What our study did was address a gap in our current understanding of the link between inflammation and hypertension.” 

Relatively little is known about how immune cells get activated and promote inflammation in hypertension, and how factors such as stress may further exacerbate the disease process. Through clinical trials however, the SIHI project has offered new insight into how immune cells are activated, clearing the path towards new ways of targeting the immune system in order to treat hypertension.

In particular, the study identified the possible role of pathogenic T cells (a type of white blood cell) in hypertension. This finding could lead to the development of more targeted therapies, rather than simply non-specific immune-suppression strategies to treat cancer. Drugs that specifically interfere with T cell activation could feasibly be used to treat hypertension in humans.

“Our pre-clinical results showed that some interventions targeting the nervous system resulted in a potent and persistent anti-hypertensive response,” says Marvar. “Given that 60% of adults are considered to be ‘pre-hypertensive,’ this is a research area of high importance that the EU should be investing in.”

Benefits of international cooperation

The breakthroughs achieved in this project were made possible by the granting of an International Incoming Fellowship to Marvar. This grant enabled Marvar to come and work in Europe, and to combine his knowledge and expertise with that of the University of Bristol’s.

A major strength of EU-funded research is its ability to bring together experts, in order to collaborate on specific real life problems. Many of these experts live and work outside the EU, which is why International Incoming Fellowships – funded through the EU’s Marie Curie Action Programme – are of such critical importance.

“The Marie Curie Incoming International Fellowship is highly beneficial to the career development of young scientists,” agrees Marvar, who has since returned to the US and is currently an assistant professor at George Washington University’s department of pharmacology & physiology. “It enables the research fellow to live abroad and experience a different culture as well as different academic university setting. It also helps to create international collaborations that provide long-term benefits to both the host institution and visiting research fellow.”