# ADDRESSING THE CONTINUING CHALLENGE OF IDENTIFYING AND MANAGING CORONARY RISK:  A PERSON-SPECIFIC STRATEGY USING PROTEOMICS

> **NIH NIH R43** · PROTEAS BIOANALYTICS INC. · 2022 · $295,195

## Abstract

Project Summary/Abstract:
Despite considerable advances in the prevention and management of coronary disease (CAD), several hundred
thousand Americans experience myocardial infarctions each year. One reason is that current clinical risk
assessment does not encompass many residual risk factors, e.g. oxidative stress. Endothelial-dependent
coronary vascular dysfunction is a “final common pathway” for many of these, as well as for Framingham
established, risk factors. Coronary vascular dysfunction is also a driver of atherosclerosis. Despite its critical role,
the technology to assess this function is not widely available, as it requires measures of coronary flow before
and during an endothelial-dependent stimulus. One key goal of the NHLBI is to advance the prediction,
prevention, preemption, treatment, and cures of cardiovascular diseases. Our proposal is aimed towards
commercial development of a clinically available blood test indicative of coronary vascular function, which would
advance person-specific assessment of CAD risk and the ability of an intervention to decrease that risk. Proteas
Bioanalytics, a small business concern, and Johns Hopkins aim to discover plasma and cell proteomic signatures
that closely correlate with function of the coronary vasculature, the clinically relevant site of CAD events. The
Johns Hopkins team has demonstrated that cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) measured increases in
coronary flow following initiation of isometric handgrip exercise is dependent on an endothelial nitric oxide
synthase mediated increase in nitric oxide (NO). The adverse impact of risk factors could therefore be attributed
to changes in the concentrations and/or activities of NO synthase substrates (e.g. l-arginine), co-factors (e.g.
tetrahydrobiopterin), activity (phosphorylation), and/or downstream products (e.g. soluble guanylyl cyclase). The
Proteas Bioanalytics team developed a state-of-the-art platform capable of plasma and single cell proteomics
analysis. We aim to use this technology to measure NO related pathways and eventually discover an algorithm
describing which one or combination of pathway factors best correlate with MRI-determined coronary vascular
function. Our specific aims for this SBIR Phase One study are: 1) To demonstrate the feasibility and technical
ability of Johns Hopkins to perform MRI studies of coronary endothelial function in subjects with and
without CAD and hence varying degrees of coronary vascular function and to collect biospecimens from
these participants for subsequent proteomic analysis. 2) To demonstrate the feasibility and technical
ability of Proteas Bioanalytics to analyze the biospecimens obtained from the participants studied in the
first aim and identify plasma and cell proteins related to coronary vascular function. If successful, the
results will support a subsequent SBIR Phase Two/Three program to develop a plasma and cell proteomic
“signature” that characterizes coronary vascular function...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10549983
- **Project number:** 1R43HL166091-01
- **Recipient organization:** PROTEAS BIOANALYTICS INC.
- **Principal Investigator:** Spiros D. Garbis
- **Activity code:** R43 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $295,195
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2022-08-01 → 2024-07-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10549983

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10549983, ADDRESSING THE CONTINUING CHALLENGE OF IDENTIFYING AND MANAGING CORONARY RISK:  A PERSON-SPECIFIC STRATEGY USING PROTEOMICS (1R43HL166091-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-28 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10549983. Licensed CC0.

---

*[NIH grants dataset](/datasets/nih-grants) · CC0 1.0*