Understanding how stress affects your immune system and heart health
Preclinical imaging of immune responses to chronic stress
This project aims to understand how both short-term and long-term stress impact your immune system and contribute to heart disease.
Quick facts
| Grant type | R01 grant |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (New York, United States) |
| Project ID | NIH-11097163 on NIH RePORTER |
What this research studies
We know that stress can worsen heart conditions and even trigger heart events. This project will explore how stress changes your body's immune response and contributes to the buildup of plaque in your arteries, known as atherosclerosis. Researchers will develop and use special imaging techniques to see these changes without invasive procedures. By looking at how stress signals in the brain affect immune cells and inflammation, we hope to uncover new ways stress harms your heart.
Who could benefit from this research
Good fit: This foundational research is not directly recruiting patients, but future studies building on this work may seek individuals with chronic stress or heart disease.
Not a fit: Patients not experiencing chronic stress or those without cardiovascular concerns may not directly benefit from the specific findings of this particular research.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, this work could lead to new ways to prevent or treat heart disease by targeting the immune system's response to stress.
How similar studies have performed: Other studies have shown links between stress, the immune system, and heart disease, and this project aims to build upon those connections using new imaging methods.
Where this research is happening
New York, United States
- Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai — New York, United States (Active)
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Van Leent, Mandy Maria Theresia — Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
- Study coordinator: Van Leent, Mandy Maria Theresia
About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page below.