Aliskiren on Retinal Vasculature Treatment Study

Summary

Hypertension affects approximately one fourth of the world population and therefore contributes substantially to the worldwide burden of cardiovascular (CV) disease and end-organ damage. Changes in small artery structure characterized by an increased wall-to-lumen ratio (WLR) are characteristic feature of target organ damage in hypertension. Of clinical importance, structural arteries of small subcutaneous arteries have been shown to be of prognostic significance, with adverse prognosis in subjects with higher WLR. However, the assessment of arteriolar structure from biopsies of subcutaneous tissue is invasive and impractical in clinical practice. A new approach focuses on retinal arteriolar structural parameters by using scanning laser Doppler flowmetry (SLDF) with automatic full-field perfusion imaging analyses (9). This approach allows the non-invasive assessment of both the outer diameter (OD) and inner diameter (ID) of retinal arterioles in vivo and, thus, analyses vascular remodeling of retinal arterioles by calculating WLR = (OD - ID) / ID). A crucial role in the efforts of prevention of end-organ damage plays the renin angiotensin system (RAS). The increased mechanical strain on the vasculature at a higher BP can cause injury to the endothelial wall. Activation of the RAS increases BP and stimulates a local inflammatory response to repair the injury. Long-term or repeated response to injury leads to endothelial dysfunction and microvascular damage, and hence end-organ damage. Combining RAS inhibitors may provide greater end-organ protection than use of either class alone. However, ONTARGET has failed to show superiority of the dual RAS blockade (ACE-I and ARB) in patients at high cardiovascular risk. The combination of ARBs and direct renin inhibitors (DRIs) emerged as the only available, valid and innovative option for blocking the RAS at two different sites (sequential blockade). Indeed, AVOID study and ALLAY study demonstrated that the DRI aliskiren has additional and to some extent blood pressure independent effects on albuminuria and left ventricular hypertrophy, both signs of subclinical organ damage in hypertension, respectively. However, no data are available with respect to the effects of ARBs and DRIs on vascular properties in the short and long term To close this gab we focus in this study on vascular structural and functional changes since vascular adaptation to high blood pressure occurs in the early phase of hypertensive disease.

Timeline

Start

2010-05

Primary completion

2013-06

Completion

2013-06

Publications

• Results Jumar A, Ott C, Kistner I, Friedrich S, Schmidt S, Harazny JM, Schmieder RE. Effect of aliskiren on vascular remodelling in small retinal circulation. J Hypertens. 2015 Dec;33(12):2491-9. doi: 10.1097/HJH.0000000000000735.
• Bosch A, Schmid A, Ott C, Kannenkeril D, Karg MV, Ditting T, Veelken R, Uder M, Schmieder RE. Copeptin Levels in Patients With Treatment-Resistant Hypertension Before and 6 Months After Renal Denervation. Am J Hypertens. 2020 Feb 22;33(2):182-189. doi: 10.1093/ajh/hpz155.
• Bosch AJ, Harazny JM, Kistner I, Friedrich S, Wojtkiewicz J, Schmieder RE. Retinal capillary rarefaction in patients with untreated mild-moderate hypertension. BMC Cardiovasc Disord. 2017 Dec 21;17(1):300. doi: 10.1186/s12872-017-0732-x.

Drugs

Indications