The kick-off meeting was held for a project coordinated by the CIB that seeks common therapies for Parkinson's and cardiovascular diseases.

The kick-off meeting of a project coordinated by the center's researchers, Ana Martínez and Eduardo Oliver, was held on 6 September 2024 at the Centro de Investigaciones Biológicas Margarita Salas Center (CSIC). The project, funded through collaboration grants between CIBER research groups in the thematic areas of Cardiovascular Diseases (CIBERCV) and Neurodegenerative Diseases (CIBERNED), aims to provide innovative solutions to fundamental problems that connect neurodegeneration, specifically, Parkinson's disease, with cardiovascular medicine, to respond to clinical needs.

Aging is associated with an increased risk of neurodegenerative and cardiovascular diseases, and chronic inflammation may link the two conditions. Moreover, the interconnectedness between these diseases means that one exacerbates the other. This project focuses on the role of serum- and glucocorticoid-regulated kinase 1 (SGK1), which is involved in oxidative stress and inflammatory processes and contributes to dopaminergic neuronal death in Parkinson's disease and endothelial dysfunction and cardiovascular remodeling in various cardiovascular diseases.

The main objective is to evaluate the therapeutic potential of a new and promising SGK1 inhibitor, more selective and able to pass the blood-brain barrier, in preclinical models of neurodegenerative and cardiovascular diseases, studying the molecular mechanisms underlying its action and trying to break the cycle of mutual exacerbation between these diseases in an innovative way, thus offering a new therapeutic strategy to treat neurodegenerative disorders such as Parkinson's disease and cardiovascular disorders such as pulmonary hypertension and severe acute respiratory distress, systemic arterial hypertension or myocardial infarction.

The group led by Dr. Ana Martínez, from CIBERNED, will synthesize the inhibitors. Dr. Eduardo Oliver, from the CIBERCV network, will be responsible for the preclinical trials in models of pulmonary vascular disease. Three other research groups are also participating in the project: Dr. Isabel Lastres from the Instituto de Investigaciones Biomédicas Sols-Morreale (IIBM-CSIC-UAM) and belonging to the CIBERNED group of the Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM), in charge of testing this promising therapy in murine models of Parkinson's disease, and the CIBERCV groups led by Dr. Ana Briones, from the  Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (UAM), who will study the therapeutic potential in hypertension models, and Dr. Borja Ibáñez, from the National Centre for Cardiovascular Research (CNIC) and the Hospital Universitario Fundación Jiménez Díaz, responsible for the preclinical trial in a porcine model of myocardial infarction.