Project Summary:
Hypertension (high blood pressure) is a critical public health issue that significantly increases the risk of heart disease, stroke, and several other health conditions contributing to nearly 500,000 deaths per year in the United States. According to national statistics, approximately 45% of adults in the United States have hypertension, which equates to nearly 108 million people. This burden is estimated to cost about $131 to $198 billion each year in health care services, medications, as well as in loss of productivity.
Hypertension causes long-term damage to the heart and blood vessels, leading to complications such as myocardial infarction, heart failure, aneurysms, and chronic kidney disease. The disease is often referred to as a "silent killer" because it typically has no symptoms, leading many to be unaware that they have it. Even a slight reduction in blood pressure can significantly reduce the likelihood of heart attack, stroke, and all deaths from cardiovascular disease. Addressing hypertension through lifestyle changes, medication, and public health initiatives is essential for reducing its prevalence and mitigating its associated health risks.
Antihypertensive medications can work in various ways, such as removing excess fluids and salt (‘diuretics’), slowing the heartbeat (‘beta blockers’) or widening blood vessels (‘vasodilators’). However, despite these various options, treatment of hypertension remains far from optimal, with many patients still suffering a poor quality of life and heightened morbidity and mortality. These poor clinical outcomes necessitate the search for new therapeutic modalities to be used alone, or in combination with existing therapies.
This project will execute a target-based screen for CLC-6 inhibitors and validate the activity of the resulting ‘hits’ on CLC-6 function both in cells and blood vessels. The goal is to develop preliminary data that the researcher can pursue in subsequent funding applications to help develop a new class of drugs to relive hypertension.
The long-term goal of this work is to identify a novel therapeutic class that may eventually yield treatments that extend life span and increase quality of life for patients, and especially minority groups that disproportionally suffer from elevated blood pressure.