Grover Conference Focuses on Gender, Sex, Hormones, Obesity & Genetics

In early September, 80 clinicians and researchers attended the 15th Grover Conference on pulmonary circulation in Sedalia, Colorado. The five-day meeting included lectures, discussions and poster presentations on the role of risk factors on the development of pulmonary hypertension.

“I think we accomplished our goal, which was to integrate state-of-the-art bench research with clinical management and drug development strategies,” said Margaret R. MacLean, PhD, who co-chaired the Grover Conference Program Committee with Karen A. Fagan, MD, and Nicholas M. Morrell, FRCP.

The program  which was supported by Actelion Pharmaceuticals US, Inc., American Heart Association, Gilead Sciences, Inc., National Institutes of Health, Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation, United Therapeutics Corporation, Office of Rare Diseases, and the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, included 38 specializing in a variety of fields, including pulmonary vascular remodeling and genetics.

“There has been a wealth of published information recently suggesting factors that may be responsible for the increased penetrance in females and genetic and/or environmental modifiers that are required for disease expression in BMPR2 mutation carriers,” explained Dr. MacLean, who is dean of graduate studies at the University of Glasgow’s College of Medical, Veterinary and Life Sciences. “These include estrogen metabolism, obesity, novel endogenous vasoactive factors and novel genetic loci interacting epistatically with BMPR2. The program reviewed this rapidly developing field, as well as the impact of genetic and environmental risk factors on the responsiveness of patients to current and emerging therapies.”

Abstracts submitted by Grover Conference attendees will be published on the ATS Assembly on Pulmonary Circulation Web site and in Pulmonary Circulation, the official journal of the Pulmonary Vascular Research Institute. The proceedings from the Grover Conference and faculty abstracts will also be published in Pulmonary Circulation as a series of reviews later this year. An executive summary of the proceedings, which will link to the reviews, will appear in Proceedings of the American Thoracic Society.