Rakesh Patel, Ph.D., Victor Darley-Usmar, Ph.D. Endowed Professor and Division Director, Molecular and Cellular Pathology and John Chatham, Ph.D., Professor, Molecular and Cellular Pathology, recently had their review article, "Protein glycosylation in cardiovascular health and disease" featured on the cover of the August issue of Nature Reviews Cardiology.

The cover displays protein glycosylation, which involves the attachment of carbohydrates to proteins. Recent advances in technology have substantially increased what is known about biosynthetic pathways involved in protein glycosylation, as well as how changes in glycosylation can affect cell function. Now, our understanding of the role of protein glycosylation in disease processes is growing, particularly in the context of immune system function, infectious disease, neurodegeneration and cancer. Despite this new knowledge, however, our overall understanding of how changes in protein glycosylation influence cardiovascular physiology is limited.

This review article discusses the current understanding of how all forms of protein glycosylation contribute to normalDrs. Patel (left) and Chatham cardiovascular function and their roles in cardiovascular disease. Chatham and Patel highlight potential gaps in the knowledge about the effects of protein glycosylation on the heart and vascular system, highlighting areas for future research. 

Read the review article here.

See the full issue here.