Empagliflozin reduces a blood marker of tissue scarring
In two randomized trials, the drug produced a 10% relative reduction in a marker of collagen formation compared with placebo.
Limit: The study evaluated blood markers rather than measuring organ scarring directly
Edited by Boris Djordjevic · AgingResearch.News
Researchers studied 380 patients across two randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trials: patients with chronic heart failure and reduced ejection fraction, an impaired pumping ability, and patients with obesity at risk of heart failure. Participants received 10 milligrams of empagliflozin once daily (188 patients) or matching placebo (192 patients), for 12 weeks in the heart failure trial or 24 weeks in the obesity trial.
The pooled analysis tracked two blood markers of collagen formation, PRO-C3 and PRO-C6. Compared with placebo, empagliflozin led to an adjusted ratio of change of 0.90 for PRO-C3, corresponding to a 10% relative reduction. For PRO-C6, the adjusted ratio was 0.99, and the range of likely values included no difference between groups. The reduction in PRO-C3 did not differ across subgroups based on heart failure, kidney disease, body mass index, or baseline marker levels.
Why it matters
The analysis addresses whether reduced activity of scar-forming cells may help account for empagliflozin’s clinical effects in heart failure.
Caveats
The study evaluated blood markers rather than measuring organ scarring directly, and whether this change accounts for the drug’s clinical benefits remains to be determined. The findings come from patients with heart failure or obesity and may not apply to broader or healthier populations.
Empagliflozin is part of Bryan Johnson's Blueprint
The paper
The antifibrotic effect of empagliflozin: Insights from the EMPIRE trial programme
