Clinical Research Studies

Gout, the most common inflammatory arthritis, is associated with accelerated rates of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and CVD-associated mortality. My group has shown that gout patients experience diminished endothelial function associated with increased CRP, suggesting that endothelial activation and inflammation interact in gout. Characterizing the biology of endothelial dysfunction in gout holds promise for reducing CV risk in gout and other chronic inflammatory conditions. My collaborator Dr. Garshick has developed a catheter-based method to directly harvest endothelial cells from brachial veins. Using this technique Dr. Garshick examined endothelial cells from psoriasis patients and found an increased expression of several transcripts for endothelial inflammation and adhesion, correlating with elevated serum IL-1ß in the psoriasis group. In this proposed study, I plan to: 1) Characterize vascular endothelial cell activation and dysfunction in patients with gout, hypothesizing that gout patients will have increased endothelial activation compared with matched controls, and 2) Correlate endothelial activation with systemic inflammation in patients with gout, and compare them with matched healthy controls, hypothesizing that increased endothelial activation in gout patients will be associated with elevated serum CRP and leukocyte activation.