ESR 11: Ploingarm Petsophonsakul

p.petsophonsakul@maastrichtuniversity.nl

Nutraceuticals modulating the vascular vitamin K-system

Research project

NattoPharma aims to develop menaquinone derivatives to support cardiovascular health by promoting vitamin K-dependent proteins that regulate VSMC homeostasis and calcification. The objective is to optimise vascular homeostasis by vitamin K-analogues, specifically prevention and treatment of vascular calcification by harnessing the protective endogenous vitamin-K cycle of the vasculature.

The ESR 11 will compare long-chain menaquinones MK-7, MK-8, and MK-9 (present in fermented foods, notably cheese and nattō) with vitamin K1 (notably found in green vegetables and some plant oils) in calcification BioHybridTM system (with ESR 4) and animal models of vascular calcification in relation to atherosclerotic inflammation (with ESR 1 and ESR 5). Also, effect in other vascular inflammatory settings (e.g. reperfusion injury) will be established (ESR 10).

Main Supervisor

Name: Leon Schurgers
Email: l.schurgers@maastrichtuniversity.nl

Host Institution

CARIM School for Cardiovascular Diseases
Maastricht University
Universiteitssingel 50
6229 ER Maastricht
The Netherlands

Expected Results

Selecting vitamin K-analogues and plan to develop clinical studies and marketing.

Planned secondment(s)

1. NattoPharma, Poland (August 2018): To assess efficacy of selected menaquinone in vascular calcification models.
2. QMUL, United Kingdom (September - December 2018): To assess efficacy of selected menaquinone in ischemia-reperfusion injury, together with assessing potential modulation of the expression of the Annexin A1 vasculoprotective pathway.