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DIABETES-HEART-STROKE-REDUCE
Diabetes drug reduces risk of heart attacks, strokes from air pollution:
study
CHICAGO, Oct. 12, 2018 (BSS/XINHUA) – A common, safe and inexpensive drug
for type 2 diabetes, metformin, decreases the risk of heart attacks and
strokes caused by air pollution by reducing inflammation in the lungs that
triggers clotting, according to a new Northwestern Medicine study.
In the study published Thursday in Cell Press, a pediatric formulation of
metformin was given to mice in their drinking water for three days. It was an
equivalent concentration to the dose people take for diabetes. Mice were
exposed to air pollution in a specially designed chamber that concentrates
the particles.
When mice were exposed to air pollution in the laboratory, their
macrophages released an inflammatory molecule called IL-6, which has been
linked to heart attacks and strokes. Metformin prevented the release of IL-6
and reduced the speed at which clots formed after an injury. The same
findings were seen in lung macrophages from humans.
Three years ago, Northwestern University (NU) professor of Medicine and
Cell Biology and his colleagues found that metformin inhibits cancer
progression. They also discovered that metformin slows mitochondrial
metabolism to prevent the growth of cancer.
To prove that targeting the mitochondria in macrophages could prevent
inflammation in response to pollution, NU professor of Airway Diseases Scott
Budinger and Chandel created mice where lung macrophages lacked key
mitochondrial proteins. Like the mice treated with metformin, these mice were
protected against pollution-induced inflammation.
These results suggest that “metformin is a pharmacological way of doing the
same thing,” Chandel explained. “We know it’s an anti-diabetic drug, it can
be an anti-cancer drug, and now our study suggests it’s a reasonable anti-
inflammatory drug.”
“These findings suggest metformin as a potential therapy to prevent some of
the premature deaths attributable to air pollution exposure worldwide,” said
Budinger.
Currently Chandel and Budinger are determining whether metformin can target
mitochondrial metabolism to prevent or slow aging and age-related diseases
including diabetes, inflammation, cancer and neurodegeneration.
More than 100 million people take metformin worldwide.
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