How metabolic syndrome harms heart blood vessels
Official title: Vascular Dysfunction in Myocardial Ischemia and Metabolic Syndrome
Funded at Rhode Island Hospital · NIH-11097242 · Data updated 2026-11-12
The team is testing whether common diabetes drugs can help blood vessels grow and protect the heart in people with metabolic syndrome and diabetes by studying a pig model that mimics patients.
Quick facts
| Grant type | R01 grant |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | Rhode Island Hospital NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Providence, United States) |
| Project start | April 1, 2016 |
| Project end | June 30, 2027 |
| Funding year | 2025 |
| Award (this year) | $818,360 |
| NIH project number | 5R01HL128831-08 |
| Project ID | NIH-11097242 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
People with metabolic syndrome, especially those with type 2 diabetes, obesity, high blood pressure, or known heart ischemia would be the population most relevant to these findings.
✕Less likely to help
People without metabolic syndrome or diabetes, and anyone seeking immediate clinical treatment, are unlikely to receive direct benefit because the project is preclinical animal research.
What this research studies
From a patient's view, researchers create metabolic syndrome in pigs with a high-fat diet so the animals closely resemble people with obesity, insulin resistance, and diabetes. They will induce reduced blood flow to the heart and then treat some animals with diabetes medicines (including sitagliptin and canagliflozin) while comparing them to lean-diet controls. The study looks at how these treatments change blood vessel behavior, microcirculation, and molecular signals that help new collateral vessels form. Findings are meant to bridge earlier rodent work to larger animals and inform future human treatments.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, this work could point to ways to protect or restore heart blood vessels and lower heart attack risk in people with metabolic syndrome and diabetes.
How similar studies have gone: Rodent studies and recent clinical trials of SGLT2 inhibitors have shown cardiovascular benefits, but using large-animal models to study growth of collateral heart vessels is less common and aims to link those findings to humans.
Where this research is happening
-
Rhode Island Hospital
Providence, United States Active
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Sellke, Frank W — Rhode Island Hospital
- Study coordinator: Sellke, Frank W
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About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page.