Shunguang Wei, PhD, assistant professor in Cardiovascular Medicine, received a four-year, $2.3M R01 grant from the NIH’s National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI). Wei’s project will investigate the role of cytokine interleukin (IL-17A) in brain inflammation and sympathetic nervous system activation in a rat model of heart failure-induced by myocardial infarction. IL-17A is an inflammatory mediator produced mainly by T helper 17 cells.
“IL-17A is a key inflammatory regulator bridging immune responses and tissue inflammation by boosting the production of a variety of inflammatory cytokines and chemokines,” Wei said.