On Friday 9 July 2021, L. Ren will defend her PhD dissertation, entitled: ‘Targeting Angiotensinogen and the (Pro)renin Receptor with Small Interfering RNA or Antisense Oligonucleotides’.
- Promotor
- Co-promotor
- Date
- Friday 9 Jul 2021, 10:30 - 12:00
- Type
- PhD defence
- Space
- Senate Hall
- Building
- Erasmus Building
- Location
- Campus Woudestein
The renin-angiotensin system (RAS) is a major regulator of blood pressure and fluid homeostasis. It is now widely accepted that its active end-product, angiotensin (Ang) II, is produced at tissue sites. Although a wide range of drugs exists to suppress either the formation of Ang II (renin inhibitors, ACE inhibitors [ACEi]) or its effects (Ang II type 1 receptor [AT1R) antagonists [ARBs]), a substantial proportion of the hypertensive population treated with these drugs remains uncontrolled or suboptimally controlled, due to non-adherence and/or drug ineffectiveness. The latter relates among others to the fact that the body is capable of counteracting the effects of RAS blockade by substantially upregulating renin. A new approach to suppress the RAS might be to delete the substrate, angiotensinogen (AGT), from which all angiotensins are derived. Since the majority of AGT is synthesized in the liver, its suppression
might occur with RNA therapeutic approaches, including small interfering RNA (siRNA) and antisense oligonucleotides (ASO), targeted to the liver. This approach is already feasible, given the introduction of inclisiran, targeting the hepatic synthesis of proprotein convertase subtilisin kexin type 9 (PCSK9). Remarkably, this requires only 2 doses per year.
Due to corona, the PhD defences do not take place publicly in the usual way in the Senate Hall or in the Professor Andries Querido Room. The candidates will defend their dissertation either in a small group or online.
