UVA researchers working to better understand coronary artery disease

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (WVIR) - A team of one professor and three students have been studying coronary artery disease. NBC29 spoke with one the researchers about how what they’ve learned lead them to make a new finding.

“The short-term goal is we have to understand what is causing this disease at the cellular and molecular level,” Noah Perry said Monday, August 14.

Perry is part of a team of researchers at UVA.

“We are studying the process that leads to coronary artery disease, and that is the buildup of plaque in the arteries,” Perry said.

This got researchers thinking: What causes the plaque buildup in the first place?

“We know our lifestyle choices are going to probably affect whether or not we have certain plaque, but the body, the cellular components also play a role,” Perry said.

Researchers decided to look deeper for a cause, which led them to make a new conclusion.

“Muscle cells play a very important role in how plaque progresses and builds up in the arteries,” Perry said. “Where we step in is trying to understand right now, how are these muscle cells acting before disease, during disease, and in late disease stages?”

The hope is finding the root of the cause puts a stop to the start of this deadly disease.

“The long-term goal is to develop therapeutic targets to help prevent this devastating disease that is the number-one leading cause of dying in the states,” Perry said.

Perry says this is only the beginning, and they will continue to research.

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