Immune responses and the prevention of AAAs

and-a-half-month period and prospectively from the following three-month timeframe—for a total of 63 patients.

They found that the most common consulting service was cardiology (32%), immediately followed by cardiothoracic surgery (27%). Rao said 25% were intraoperative, 19% related to ECMO cannulation, and another 19% to ventricular assist devices. The research team noted a particular peak for consult timings from 6–7 p.m. Most involved uncontrolled hemorrhage (42%), followed by ischemia (32%) and pseudoaneurysm (27%). “Emergent or urgent intervention was required in 75% of cases,” he said, “typically requiring open surgical repair, with a significant proportion—15%—requiring endovascular intervention.”

In second place ($1,000) was Raaz Samra (middle left), MD, of Indiana University School of Medicine. In third ($500) was Hanaa Dakour-Aridi (middle right), MD, of the University of California, San Diego. The top 10 posters were presented in the main plenary hall.—Bryan Kay

DATA ON THE ROLE OF ALLOGENEIC MESENCHYMAL STROMAL CELLS obtained from a young healthy female donor—in inducing Tr1 and reducing Th17 cells in the context of abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAAs) formed a key part of the message of the 2023 Roy Greenberg Distinguished Lecture at VAM. “There is very preliminary evidence that mesenchymal stromal cells may prevent aneurysm expansion,” this year’s lecturer, Michael Murphy, MD, told those gathered. “Given this body of data, we are going to move forward with a multicenter, multi-dosing, randomized, placebo-controlled study to see if there is true efficacy in preventing or decreasing overall aneurysm expansion, measured either by diameter, or preferably by volume, because I think it’s a much more sensitive measure as it contains three dimensions rather than just two, at one and two years.” Murphy, a professor of vascular biology at Indiana University School of Medicine in Indianapolis, was giving a talk built around the title, “Modulating patient immune responses to prevent AAA initiation and expansion.”

Murphy also told attendees how he and colleagues had demonstrated how nanoparticles loaded with elastin degradation products demonstrate efficacy in preventing aneurysm initiation. “We developed a skin test that can determine a response to immunotherapy, but it may also be able to identify patients who may be at risk for developing an aneurysm,” he said, explaining, “somebody who may have had a father who had an aortic aneurysm—young, Caucasian, cigarette smoker, obviously in their 40s, and doesn’t have an aneurysm yet—but if they have a positive skin reaction, it might be somebody who we would follow more closely.

“Better yet, if we have an effective reverse vaccine, we can start administering immunotherapy.”

With data obtained from a mice model, Murphy and colleagues aim to move to a phase I safety study in a clinical setting, following Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval, of a nanoparticle vaccine.—Bryan Kay