The cureCADASIL Association has furthered support of CADASIL research by sponsoring a student travel award to the 25th Annual American Society of Neural Therapy and Repair Conference (ASNTR), which enabled CADASIL research to be presented at the conference. In 2018, this event was a joint gathering of both the American Society and the 15th International Symposium on Neural Transplantation and Restoration, giving CADASIL education to a broad group of researchers. In addition, CADASIL brochures were included in conference bags provided to each attendee of the conference and cureCADASIL acknowledged on the organizations website and program as a sponsor.
Dr. Suning Ping, a post-doctoral fellow in Dr. Li-Ru Zhao’s lab at SUNY Upstate Medical University in Syracuse, received our student travel grant to present her work entitled “STEM CELL FACTOR AND GRANULOCYTE COLONY-STIMULATING FACTOR PROMOTE BRAIN REPAIR AND COGNITIVE FUNCTION THROUGH VEGF-MEDIATED ANGIOGENESIS IN A MOUSE MODEL OF CADASIL”. Dr. Li-Ru Zhao’s lab has recently demonstrated the efficacy of combining two hematopoietic growth factors. Stem cell factor (SCF) and granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) improve cognitive function, increase brain blood vessel density and increase neural network rewiring in a transgenic mouse model of CADASIL. Dr. Ping demonstrated that a third growth factor, vascular epithelial growth factor (VEGF), is necessary for SCF and G-CSF to function. By blocking VEGF with Avastin, the improvement in cognitive function, enhanced blood vessel density and enhanced neural network rewiring that was observed with SCF and G-CSF does not occur. Dr. Ping’s results shed light on a key mechanism by which hematopoietic growth factors may restrict CADASIL pathology.
May 17, 2018
The following link will take you to the recorded August 2017 CADASIL Connection webinar. You will be asked to enter your name and email to access this recording. The sound quality is low for the first several minutes due to the volume of callers entering the webinar. The sound quality is excellent for the rest of the webinar.
“Exploring a Therapeutic Approach for CADASIL: The Efficacy of Bone Marrow Stem Cell Factors in Brain Repair”
Please stay tuned for information on our October 2017 webinar
when CADASIL Connection will host speaker
Principal Investigator at NHLBI/NIH for the CADASIL Disease Discovery Study
Rare Disease Report shared the news of the latest published CADASIL research from the lab of Dr. Joe Arboleda Velasquez! In the article they also highlighted the work being done by cureCADASIL Association. We are thankful for RDR’s support of rare diseases and their assistance in raising awareness of CADASIL.
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Dr. Joseph F. Arboleda-Velasquez was introduced to the field of study of SVD (small vessel diseases) as a medical student in Colombia, South America. He worked under the supervision of internationally recognized neurologist Dr. Francisco Lopera in the clinical characterization of two large Colombian families with CADASIL. Joe (as he prefers to be called) has had his clinical work reported in several research publications.
Joe came to the USA in the year 2000 with the goal of becoming a scientist. He has worked in laboratories and programs at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and at Harvard Medical School. He joined the Schepens Eye Research Institute in 2010 as a post-doctoral fellow to study the role of cell-cell interactions in diabetic retinopathy. Joe was appointed as Faculty Investigator at Schepens in 2012 to begin his independent scientist career. His current research includes cell signaling and the pathobiology of small vessel diseases (CADASIL). Please view his professional website at: http://www.schepens.harvard.edu/arboleda
Karla Smith recently interviewed Joe:
How did you first learn about CADASIL?
While I was in medical school my research mentor introduced me to a family that he thought had CADASIL because they suffered from stroke and vascular dementia. I decided to work with this family as part of my internship to help them uncover the cause of the disease.
Why are you interested in CADASIL?
I feel very committed to help the families with CADASIL because I know firsthand about their suffering and see how committed they are to help each other.
What kind of research have you done for CADASIL?
I have worked on many aspects of CADASIL over the years. I started doing genetic work to identify mutations in Notch 3 associated with CADASIL. Later, I did some molecular work to study how CADASIL mutations affect the Notch 3 receptor. More recently, I developed animal models of CADASIL that can help us to deepen our understanding of this condition and test therapies.
What kind of research are you doing now for CADASIL?
Now my work is focused on testing drugs that could help in treating CADASIL. Specifically, I am testing the effect of drugs that modulate Notch 3 activity on mice that suffer from CADASIL-associated changes. This work is now being conducted on laboratory animals to test for safety as well as efficacy.
Do you have any family members or friends who have CADASIL?
My father was recently diagnosed with dementia. In many CADASIL patients, the multiple stroke events lead to dementia. My father’s condition is stable now, but having my own father suffer from dementia helped me to get very close and identify with the CADASIL community.
Have you written any articles on CADASIL?
I have published several articles on CADASIL and many others on the roles and functions of Notch receptors, one of which is affected by the CADASIL mutations. Writing is also my passion and thus I look forward to writing much more about CADASIL and help many patients this way.
This article and interview was originally featured in the December 2012 Inaugural issue of EMBRACE newsletter published by CADASIL Association. Thank you to Karla and Dr. Joe Arboleda for this article and their dedication to CADASIL awareness.
