We propose novel and ambitious research approaches seeking to recapitulate in vitro and in vivo the pathophysiological mechanisms involved in light chain amyloidosis and cardiac involvement (AL-CA).

1. We aim to characterize light chain related to cardiac phenotype of  patients with AL-CA.

2. We seek to creation and characterization animal models with features of  AL-CA.

3. Our goal is  the  elucidation of cardiotoxicity mechanisms and investigation of possible cardioprotective therapeutic interventions in AL-CA

We are an interdisciplinary research team with complementary expertise  that applies well-established imaging and molecular biology techniques for the performance of the in vivo and vitro experiments.

The Laboratory of Pharmacology, Department of Pharmacy, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA) has expertise in the field of Cardiovascular Pharmacology with numerous publications related to cardiac pathophysiology and cardiotoxicity. The Laboratory of Pharmacology is equipped with all the instruments required to perform the experiments such as cell cultures, Western blot analysis, ELISA, PCR, etc and all the necessary equipment for performing interventions in small animals.

The Oncology/Hematology Unit in the Department of Clinical Therapeutics, School of Medicine belongs to the host institute NKUA. It is the referral center for amyloisosis in Greece and has great expertise. Outstanding clinical and research work in studying the biology of plasma cell dyscrasias have been accompanied by numerous publications in peer-reviewed international journals and by participation in international conferences.

The Hemopathological department of Evangelismos Hospital, School of Medicine, NKUA, is responsible for the histological diagnosis of amyloidosis and histologic evaluation of clinical samples.

The Biomedical Research Foundation of the Academy of Athens (BRFAA) is a Cooperative organization and  provide access to i) the Laboratory Animal Facility, an SPF facility with controlled access and a availability of many experimental models and ii) the Imaging Facility with Transmission Electron Microscopy and Confocal microscopy setups.

The Cardiovascular Research Laboratory of BRFAA essentially contributes to the investigation of the animal cardiac function and characterization of the phenotype. Hardy Rideout’s group in the laboratory of neurodegenerative diseases in the Center of Experimental Surgery and Translational Medicine will provide the necessary expertise for the implementation of genetic engineering experiments and light chain production.

The current research is performed in collaboration with experts in each field using state of art techniques so that high quality data will be produced and translated to the clinical setting.

You can get involved by directly communicating with us in the designated space in the website, by participating in our awareness programs, or supporting our research funding initiatives through donations or volunteering.