Anti-inflammatory drug could be used to ease untreatable high blood pressure

The cause of untreatable high blood pressure has been cracked by Melbourne researchers in a breakthrough which could soon see the dangerous condition treated as an immune disease.

Melbourne researchers have cracked a cause of untreatable high blood pressure, which could soon see the dangerous condition treated as an immune disease with drugs currently used for gout and rheumatoid arthritis.

Cardiologists say this promising anti-inflammatory treatment is the biggest break­through in preventing heart attack and stroke since statins were introduced in the 1990s.

Poor lifestyle choices, such diets high in fat and salt, have been found to activate a chemical chain reaction in the kidneys and blood vessels that triggers the immune system to mount an attack, leading to high blood pressure.

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More than 220 million people globally are unable to control their blood pressure with current treatments.

Up to 20 per cent of patients with high blood pressure — more than 220 million people globally — fail to control their blood pressure with current treatments, putting them at high risk of heart and stroke.

Researchers led by La Trobe University and Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute found that a poor diet could lead to glasslike crystal shards composed of uric acid, cholesterol and salt building up in the blood vessels and kidneys.

These pierce cells within the kidneys and blood vessels, causing an enzyme to be released. This inflammation activates the immune system, which consequently leads to the further damage that drives up blood pressure.

In a proof-of-concept animal study, researchers used an experimental immunosuppressant to block the activity of the enzyme, which prevented mice from developing high blood pressure and also reversed hypertension.

“The idea that hypertension might be an immune condition, is probably the hottest topic in hypertension research at the moment,” said lead researcher Professor Grant Drummond, co-director of La Trobe’s Research Centre for Cardiovascular Biology and Disease.

“We’ve always considered hypertension as a plumbing problem.

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“We try to slow the pump down by giving people beta blockers, we force blood vessels open, or try to open the release value in the kidneys using diuretics. But half of hypertension patients need a second medication, because the first doesn’t work.

“This may be the missing link, finally allowing us to treat the cause rather than symptoms.”

The findings have been published in the journal Cardiovascular Research.

Researchers plan to analyse results of anti-inflammatory drug trials, to see if they affect blood pressure and kidneys, before starting clinical trials.