Inflammation reduces hope for new high blood pressure therapy

Researcher: Hope for new treatment for high blood pressure

Untreated high blood pressure is the number one risk factor for cardiovascular disease and is responsible for many heart attacks and strokes. In order to treat hypertension in a targeted manner, scientists have searched for the causes of the disease and found that chronic inflammation could play an important role here.

Hypertension often leads to cardiovascular disease

According to health experts, around 20 to 30 million people in Germany alone suffer from high blood pressure (hypertension). More than one billion people worldwide are affected. Untreated high blood pressure is one of the biggest health risks in the Western world. He is the number one risk factor for cardiovascular disease and is responsible for many deaths from myocardial infarction or stroke. Nevertheless, little is known about the causes. Researchers have now gained new insights and hope for new treatment approaches.

High blood pressure can lead to heart attacks and strokes. To be able to treat him specifically, scientists have searched for the causes of the disease and have found in chronic inflammation. (Image: Kurhan / fotolia.com)

Little is known about the causes

Although high blood pressure is sometimes the result of other diseases such as kidney or metabolic diseases, but according to experts, the so-called primary hypertension accounts for about 90 percent of all high blood pressure cases.

It is well known that certain factors such as obesity, physical inactivity, high levels of salt and alcohol intake, and smoking promote the onset of this form of high blood pressure, but the exact nature of primary hypertension has not yet been established.

Researchers have now come a step further in the search for the exact causes of high blood pressure and have found that chronic inflammation could play a role here.

Possible association of hypertension and chronic inflammation

Scientists at La Trobe University in Melbourne and the Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute in Australia, in collaboration with the University of Bonn, have found a possible link between hypertension and chronic inflammation in a new study.

The results published in the specialist journal "Cardiovascular Research" could pave the way for entirely new treatment methods, reports the Australian-New Zealand University Network / Institute Ranke-Heinemann in a statement.

It claims to use anti-inflammatory drugs prescribed to patients with autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis.

Conventional therapies do not help all patients

In many cases, high blood pressure can be reduced even without medication.

For example, by moving more, reducing excess weight, avoiding unhealthy, too-salty diets, tobacco and increased alcohol consumption and stress.

If a healthier lifestyle is not enough, doctors prescribe antihypertensive drugs to the patient. But with difficult to set high blood pressure, these are often not enough.

"Up to 20 percent of patients can not control hypertension with current therapies, such as diuretics, blood vessel enlargement, or heart rate reduction medications," said Prof. Grant Drummond of La Trobe University in a statement.

"These patients then suffer more frequently from debilitating or fatal heart attacks and strokes," said the expert, who pointed out that it is important to first identify the root cause of high blood pressure before effective therapies can be developed against it.

Enzyme in the kidneys and blood vessels is activated

According to the researchers, the researchers are investigating the possibility that high blood pressure is triggered by chronic inflammation.

Dr. Anthony Vinh of La Trobe University said the team is investigating the hypothesis that factors such as high-salt or high-fat diets activate an enzyme in the kidneys and blood vessels called the inflammasome.

"Once activated, this enzyme generates chemical signals that attract immune cells and trigger an inflammatory response that interferes with the blood pressure regulating functions of the kidneys and blood vessels," Dr. Vinh.

"This process usually protects us from bacteria and viruses, but sometimes the immune cells are confused and react to actually harmless substances," says the expert.

"In hypertension, the" harmless "substances that appear to be at the center of the problem are glassy pieces of crystalline salt, cholesterol, and uric acid that accumulate in blood vessels and kidneys."

Way for new treatment approaches

According to Prof. Drummond, it is possible to prevent damage to blood vessels and kidneys and to reduce high blood pressure by suppressing the activity of the inflammasome and reducing the inflammation.

"Anti-inflammatory drugs are already used for the treatment of autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis or gout," said the expert.

"We have shown that similar drugs can be used just as effectively to lower high blood pressure in hypertensive mice," said Drummond.

"These findings could pave the way for new treatment approaches that use drugs that are currently reserved for patients with autoimmune diseases to treat high blood pressure," said the study author.

"That could help save millions of lives." (Ad)