Targeting Inflammation to Treat Cardiovascular Aging

Summary

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in the United States with older age being a primary risk factor. The number of adults greater than age 65 years will almost double to 70 million by 2030, therefore identifying therapeutic strategies for treating or preventing age-related disorders in humans is of major biomedical importance. Cardiovascular aging, defined as a reduction in vascular and cardiac functions with normal aging, occurs even in the absence of CVD risk factors and overt CVD. A key feature of cardiovascular aging is stiffening of the large elastic central arteries such as the aorta. This is important because aortic stiffness directly contributes to clinical problems such as increased blood pressure, reduced blood flow to the heart muscle, and thickening of the heart muscle. Therefore, these clinical consequences are hypothesized to mediate a substantial proportion of the increase in CVD risk in older adults. However, effective drug treatments for aortic stiffness are not currently available and the biological reasons (mechanisms) involved in causing aortic stiffening remain undefined. In addition, the inability of smaller blood vessels to relax, impairment of the heart to relax during the filling phase of the heart cycle (i.e., diastole), and increased blood pressure variability, have all been linked to aortic stiffness. Furthermore, chronic low-grade inflammation with advancing age has been proposed to be a common mechanistic link (i.e., biological reason) between these reductions in cardiovascular function in older adults. Therefore, the investigators propose that inflammation could be a novel therapeutic target to treat cardiovascular aging in older adults. Our central hypothesis is that inflammation mediates the age-related deterioration in cardiovascular functions observed with advancing age through the development of oxidative stress (i.e., imbalance between damaging oxygen free radicals vs. protective antioxidants). Our hypothesis predicts that chronic inhibition of inflammation with Salsalate, an FDA-approved anti-inflammatory drug similar to aspirin that is used to treat rheumatoid arthritis pain and known to inhibit the 'master' regulator of inflammation in the cell (i.e., nuclear factor kappa B), will improve cardiovascular function in older adults. In addition, the investigators hypothesize that the mechanism for the improvement in cardiovascular function during inhibition of inflammation will be by suppressing oxidative stress. To test our hypothesis, the investigators will randomize older healthy adults (age 50-79 years) to 3 g/day of salsalate or placebo (i.e., pill with inactive substance) pills for 4 weeks and have cardiovascular function measured at baseline and again after 4 weeks.

Timeline

Start

2012-09

Primary completion

2016-02

Completion

2016-02

Publications

• Background Goldfine AB, Silver R, Aldhahi W, Cai D, Tatro E, Lee J, Shoelson SE. Use of salsalate to target inflammation in the treatment of insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes. Clin Transl Sci. 2008 May;1(1):36-43. doi: 10.1111/j.1752-8062.2008.00026.x.
• Background Fleischman A, Shoelson SE, Bernier R, Goldfine AB. Salsalate improves glycemia and inflammatory parameters in obese young adults. Diabetes Care. 2008 Feb;31(2):289-94. doi: 10.2337/dc07-1338. Epub 2007 Oct 24.
• Background Goldfine AB, Fonseca V, Jablonski KA, Pyle L, Staten MA, Shoelson SE; TINSAL-T2D (Targeting Inflammation Using Salsalate in Type 2 Diabetes) Study Team. The effects of salsalate on glycemic control in patients with type 2 diabetes: a randomized trial. Ann Intern Med. 2010 Mar 16;152(6):346-57. doi: 10.7326/0003-4819-152-6-201003160-00004.
• Background Chai W, Liu J, Jahn LA, Fowler DE, Barrett EJ, Liu Z. Salsalate attenuates free fatty acid-induced microvascular and metabolic insulin resistance in humans. Diabetes Care. 2011 Jul;34(7):1634-8. doi: 10.2337/dc10-2345. Epub 2011 May 26.
• Background Jablonski KL, Chonchol M, Pierce GL, Walker AE, Seals DR. 25-Hydroxyvitamin D deficiency is associated with inflammation-linked vascular endothelial dysfunction in middle-aged and older adults. Hypertension. 2011 Jan;57(1):63-9. doi: 10.1161/HYPERTENSIONAHA.110.160929. Epub 2010 Nov 29.
• Background McCarty MF. Salsalate may have broad utility in the prevention and treatment of vascular disorders and the metabolic syndrome. Med Hypotheses. 2010 Sep;75(3):276-81. doi: 10.1016/j.mehy.2009.12.027. Epub 2010 Jan 18.
• Background Pierce GL, Lesniewski LA, Lawson BR, Beske SD, Seals DR. Nuclear factor-kappaB activation contributes to vascular endothelial dysfunction via oxidative stress in overweight/obese middle-aged and older humans. Circulation. 2009 Mar 10;119(9):1284-92. doi: 10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.108.804294. Epub 2009 Feb 23.
• Background Lesniewski LA, Durrant JR, Connell ML, Folian BJ, Donato AJ, Seals DR. Salicylate treatment improves age-associated vascular endothelial dysfunction: potential role of nuclear factor kappaB and forkhead Box O phosphorylation. J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci. 2011 Apr;66(4):409-18. doi: 10.1093/gerona/glq233. Epub 2011 Feb 8.

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