Cleveland Clinic researchers get $9.2M grant to continue study of inflammation in heart disease

CLEVELAND, Ohio — Cleveland Clinic researchers have been awarded a $9.2 million, 5-year grant from the National Institutes of Health to continue their study of the role of inflammation in heart disease.

Dr. Stanley Hazen, section head of Preventive Cardiology at the Clinic and a staff member in Lerner Research Institute‘s Department of Cell Biology, is the principle investigator of the $9,276,395 award from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, the Clinic said in a written statement.

Hazen and his colleagues hope to develop a deeper understanding of the mechanisms linking inflammation to cardiovascular disease and its consequences. Inflammation is thought to contribute to the development of plaque-up in arteries, which can lead to heart attack, stroke and death. The grant is a continuation of past NIH funding.

Already, the researchers have discovered that blood levels of an enzyme called myeloperoxidase, or MPO, can identify people who are at risk for heart attack. They also developed a diagnostic test for MPO that is approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and used worldwide.

“We hope that the discoveries we make in the ensuing five years will have a similar impact on patient care, both in terms of understanding the mechanisms of how inflammation is linked with atherosclerotic heart disease and in the development of novel therapies,” Hazen said in the statement.