Contact information
Ioannis Akoumianakis
MD, DPhil (Oxon)
Research Associate, Division of Cardiovascular Medicine
My research focuses on investigating the direct vascular effects of insulin in humans with atherosclerosis, and how these may be influenced by molecules that the adipose tissue (AT) secretes.
Obesity, insulin resistance and diabetes comprise interrelated entities linked to increased risk for vascular complications. Despite recent advances, there is still an unmet need to explore the biology underlying the vascular effects of these global metabolic disease burdens.
Work from our group has identified AT as a dynamic regulator of vascular function via the secretion of molecules called adipokines. Importantly, the secretome of AT may undergo drastic changes in response to obesity and diabetes, with direct, and not adequately characterised, implications for vascular disease.
During my collaboration with the Antoniades Group, I have been focusing on performing various ex vivo techniques using fresh human tissue to investigate the effects of obesity and diabetes on the human vasculature in multiple levels, while driving the management of the actively recruiting Oxford cohort for Heart, Vessels and Fat (Ox-HVF). Ox-HVF comprises a unique bioresource able to provide invaluable insights into the molecular mechanisms governing vascular injury associated with obesity and diabetes, as well as the role of AT in regulating such mechanisms.
Key publications
-
Insulin-induced vascular redox dysregulation in human atherosclerosis is ameliorated by dipeptidyl peptidase 4 inhibition.
Journal article
Akoumianakis I. et al, (2020), Sci Transl Med, 12
-
Adipose tissue-derived WNT5A regulates vascular redox signaling in obesity via USP17/RAC1-mediated activation of NADPH oxidases.
Journal article
Akoumianakis I. et al, (2019), Sci Transl Med, 11
-
Insulin Treatment Induces Oxidative Stress in the Vascular Wall of Patients With Atherosclerosis Independently of Diabetes or Systemic Insulin Resistance: The Protective Role of DPP-IV Inhibition
Conference paper
Akoumianakis I. et al, (2017), CIRCULATION, 136
-
A novel machine learning-derived radiotranscriptomic signature of perivascular fat improves cardiac risk prediction using coronary CT angiography.
Journal article
Oikonomou EK. et al, (2019), Eur Heart J, 40, 3529 - 3543
-
Detecting human coronary inflammation by imaging perivascular fat.
Journal article
Antonopoulos AS. et al, (2017), Sci Transl Med, 9
-
Impaired Vascular Redox Signaling in the Vascular Complications of Obesity and Diabetes Mellitus.
Journal article
Akoumianakis I. and Antoniades C., (2019), Antioxid Redox Signal, 30, 333 - 353
-
The interplay between adipose tissue and the cardiovascular system: is fat always bad?
Journal article
Akoumianakis I. and Antoniades C., (2017), Cardiovasc Res, 113, 999 - 1008
-
Perivascular adipose tissue as a regulator of vascular disease pathogenesis: identifying novel therapeutic targets.
Journal article
Akoumianakis I. et al, (2017), Br J Pharmacol, 174, 3411 - 3424
-
Dipeptidyl peptidase IV inhibitors as novel regulators of vascular disease.
Journal article
Akoumianakis I. and Antoniades C., (2017), Vascul Pharmacol, 96-98, 1 - 4
Recent publications
-
MPST sulfurtransferase maintains mitochondrial protein import and cellular bioenergetics to attenuate obesity.
Journal article
Katsouda A. et al, (2022), J Exp Med, 219
-
Non-canonical WNT signalling in cardiovascular disease: mechanisms and therapeutic implications.
Journal article
Akoumianakis I. et al, (2022), Nat Rev Cardiol
-
PHACTR1 modulates vascular compliance but not endothelial function: a translational study.
Journal article
Wood A. et al, (2022), Cardiovasc Res
-
Non-canonical WNT signalling in cardiovascular disease: mechanisms and therapeutic implications
Journal article
AKOUMIANAKIS I. et al, (2022), Nature Reviews Cardiology
-
Effects of canagliflozin on human myocardial redox signalling: clinical implications.
Journal article
Kondo H. et al, (2021), Eur Heart J, 42, 4947 - 4960