Peptidic vaccines: The new cure for heart diseases?

Cardiovascular disease continues to be the most common cause of death worldwide. The global burden is so high that numerous organizations are providing counseling recommendations and annual revisions of current pharmacological and non-pharmacological treatments as well as risk prediction for disease prevention and further progression. Although primary preventive interventions targeting risk factors such as obesity, hypertension, smoking, and sedentarism have led to a global decline in hospitalization rates, the aging population has overwhelmed these efforts on a global scale. This review focuses on peptidic vaccines, with the known and not well-known autoantigens in atheroma formation or acquired cardiac diseases, as novel potential immunotherapy approaches to counteract harmful heart disease continuance. We summarize how cancer immunomodulatory strategies started novel approaches to modulate the innate and adaptive immune responses, and how they can be targeted for therapeutic purposes in the cardiovascular system. Brief descriptions focused on the processes that start as either immunologic or non-immunologic, and the ultimate loss of cardiac muscle cell contractility as the outcome, are discussed. We conclude debating how novel strategies with nanoparticles and nanovaccines open a promising therapeutic option to reduce or prevent cardiovascular diseases.

Vaccines against components of the renin-angiotensin system.

Even though effective drugs for treating hypertension are available, a great percentage of patients have inadequate control of their blood pressure. Unwanted side effects and inappropriate oral drug adherence are important factors that contribute to the global problem of uncontrolled hypertension. Vaccination could provide a revolutionary therapy with long-lasting effects, increasing patient compliance and therefore better control of high blood pressure. Nowadays, current immunization approaches against hypertension target renin, angiotensin I, angiotensin II, and angiotensin II type 1 receptor, key elements of the renin-angiotensin system. This article reviews the different vaccination attempts with proteins and peptides against the different molecules of the renin-angiotensin system in the last two decades, safety issues, and other novel prospects biomarkers in hypertension, and summarizes the potential of this immunomodulatory approach in clinical practice.