An observational study in Cardiovascular Diseases Risk, sponsored by Canadian Medical and Surgical Knowledge Translation Research Group. Active, not recruiting at 5 sites in Canada. Open to participants aged 18 Years and older, including healthy volunteers. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-08-06.
Sponsored by Canadian Medical and Surgical Knowledge Translation Research Group · Observational
ORIGINS-VRCE-2 is an observational study aimed to assess how blood vessel forming stem cells from individuals without diabetes or a history of cardiovascular disease differ between individuals of South Asian and European ethnicities. The overarching objective of the study is to investigate whether differential vessel reparative stem cell populations and characteristics may underlie the elevated cardiovascular risk observed among South Asian individuals compared to individuals of European origins.
Cardiovascular diseases (CVD) are the main cause of death worldwide. Notably, individuals of South Asian (SA) origin have 3 to 5-fold increased rates of CVD compared to European individuals, which cannot be entirely explained by diet, lifestyle, or socioeconomic factors. Therefore, the mechanisms driving the increased CVD risk in SA individuals remains largely unknown.
Cardiovascular health is maintained by vascular regenerative cells, which secrete pro-vascular cytokines involved in various pro-angiogenic, arteriogenic and vasculogenic pathways. It has been shown that SA adults with type 2 diabetes or CVD show vascular regenerative cell exhaustion (VRCE), characterized by a reduced number or dysfunction of pro-vascular cells compared to European adults with type 2 diabetes or CVD. Thus, VRCE presents as a novel mechanism to explain the increased cardiovascular risk SA individuals experience. However, it is unclear whether VRCE only occurs in people with cardiometabolic diseases, or if it is a phenomenon that is also present in healthy SA individuals.
ORIGINS-VRCE-2 is an observational, two-armed, cross-sectional study that will enroll 60 healthy South Asian and 60 healthy European individuals. Vascular regenerative cells will be isolated from peripheral blood samples for enumeration and characterization.
Canadian Medical and Surgical Knowledge Translation Research Group is the lead sponsor of 10 studies on the registry; 1 is open to participants now.
Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.
Participants will be identified from primary care and cardiology outpatient clinics in the Greater Toronto Area using paper-based and electronic medical records.
Exclusion Criteria:
Any previous CV events such as:
Individuals who identify as having Anglo-Indian, Bangladeshi, Bengali, Bhutanese, Goan, Gujarati, Indian, Jatt, Kashmiri, Maharashtrian, Malayali, Nepali, Pakistani, Punjabi, Sindhi, Sinhalese, Sri Lankan, Tamil, Telugu, or other South Asian origin
Individuals who identify as having western European, northern European, southern European, eastern European or other European origin
The differences in the frequency / absolute number of circulating ALDHhi primitive progenitor cells co-expressing CD133 between individuals of South Asian origins and European origins
Time frame: Baseline
The differences in the frequency / absolute number of circulating ALDHhiSSCmid precursor cells with monocytes/macrophage phenotype between individuals of South Asian origins and European origin
Time frame: Baseline
Difference in the amount of intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) production in ALDHhi progenitor cell subsets in individuals of South Asian origins and European origins
Time frame: Baseline
Difference in the levels of inflammatory and oxidative stress biomarkers in individuals of South Asian origins and European origins
Time frame: Baseline
Plan to share: Undecided
This study is active, not recruiting, as verified in Aug 2026. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.
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Canadian Medical and Surgical Knowledge Translation Research Group