Anti-Inflammatory Drugs May Lower the Risk of Blood Vessel Disease in Diabetics

A new study proposes that anti-inflammatory drugs might help reduce the risk of blood vessel disease in diabetes patients.

The reports provided by the American Heart Association (AHA) reveals that inflammation is to be blamed for high blood sugar levels that damages blood vessels. This finding raises the possibility that anti-inflammatory medication can help lower the risk of blood vessel disease in people with diabetes, a disease in which the blood glucose or blood sugar levels are too high. Chronic diabetes includes conditions like type-1 diabetes and type-2 diabetes.

"These findings may explain why good blood sugar control is not sufficient to avoid the development of diabetes-induced cardiovascular diseases," said Carlos F. Sánchez-Ferrer, M.D., Ph.D., study author and professor of pharmacology at the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Spain. "We need to find new medications focused on reducing inflammation."

The researchers evaluated the cultured smooth muscle cells retrieved from the main human artery. They noticed that when inflammation did not exist, the extra glucose present in the culture fluid did not move in to the cells. When excess of glucose was forced to enter the cells, no damage occurred in the absence of inflammation.

On introducing the inflammation-stimulating protein interleukin-1, the researchers noticed that the amount of glucose entering the cells increased. In the presence of the 'anakinra' an anti-inflammatory drug, no changes were observed. The drug blocks the activity of IL-1.

"We need to reduce the inflammatory environment associated with diabetes," Sánchez-Ferrer said. "Changes in life-style, such as physical exercise and weight reduction, are important not only because they reduce blood sugar, but because they reduce inflammation."

Further, the researchers showed interest in verifying whether similar effect is noticed in cultured cells taken from the lining of blood vessels and explore the blood sugar inflammation link in animals.

The finding was presented at the American Heart Association's High Blood Pressure Research Scientific Sessions 2014.