Dapagliflozin improved blood-cell resistance to energy stress
After 12 weeks, a blood-cell measure of capacity to meet extra energy demand was higher with dapagliflozin than placebo; the reported mean difference was −46.01.
Double-blind, placebo-controlled
Limit: The primary endpoint, ATP production in PBMCs, did not improve
Edited by Boris Djordjevic · AgingResearch.News
In a double-blind randomized trial, 45 patients with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction, a type of heart attack, received dapagliflozin or placebo. Dapagliflozin dosing started at 20 mg, followed by 10 mg daily for 12 weeks. Researchers tested mitochondria, cells’ energy-producing structures, in immune cells collected from blood. The main outcome was production of ATP, the molecule cells use for energy.
Dapagliflozin did not improve ATP production or the heart’s pumping ability within 12 weeks. However, at 12 weeks, the dapagliflozin group’s blood immune cells had higher spare respiratory capacity than the placebo group’s. This measures how much cells can increase energy-related oxygen use above their resting level. The researchers interpreted the finding as enhanced resistance to energy stress.
Why it matters
The trial addressed a question relevant to age-related heart disease: whether changes in cells’ energy systems might help account for this drug class’s previously reported heart benefits.
Caveats
The stress-resistance finding came from a blood-cell measurement, not a clinical recovery outcome. This 45-person conference abstract did not report adverse-event results or specify the units or subtraction order for its negative mean difference.
