Cleveland Clinic awarded $12 million by NIH to study the link between gut microbes and heart disease – Crain’s Cleveland Business

The Cleveland Clinic announced on Tuesday morning, Nov. 19, that the National Institutes of Health has awarded more than $12 million to Clinic researchers to study the link between gut microbial pathways and the development of cardiometabolic diseases, which include cardiovascular conditions such as heart attack, stroke, hypertension and heart failure, and metabolic diseases such as type 2 diabetes and obesity.

Dr. Stanley Hazen, director of the Clinic's Center for Microbiome and Human Health, leads the research team, the Clinic said in a news release. The award is from the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute of the NIH.

Hazen's collaborators in the research are J. Mark Brown, Ph.D.; Zeneng Wang, Ph.D.; Lynn Hajjar, Ph.D.; and Joe DiDonato, Ph.D. They "will explore the concept that gut microbes act as a key endocrine "organ" that converts digested nutrients into chemical signals that function like hormones, creating physiological changes in the person," according to the Clinic's release.

The researchers "will focus on specific novel pathways linked to atherosclerosis, thrombosis and obesity, as well as the participation of specific gut microbe-driven pathways in increased susceptibility to cardiovascular and metabolic diseases," the release stated.

The Clinic said the research program is one of the first Program Project grants funded by NIH focused on the gut microbiome, which the Clinic described as "a rapidly growing field that shows numerous links to human health and disease."

The research program will explore how newly identified gut microbial pathways affect thrombosis and atherosclerosis; investigate how microbial metabolites act like hormones to drive disease in a high-fat environment; and identify specific microbial genes and metabolites that are responsible for enhancing cardiovascular disease.

"Heart disease is the leading killer in the United States and we are only now beginning to understand this critical area of research," Hazen said in a statement. "We are grateful to the NIH for this funding and excited about the potential this research has to open up new avenues for improving health and combating cardiovascular disease."

In addition to his role at the Center for Microbiome & Human Health, Hazen chairs the Lerner Research Institute Department of Cardiovascular & Metabolic Sciences and is co-section head of Preventive Cardiology & Rehabilitation in the Miller Heart & Vascular Institute of Cleveland Clinic. He also holds the Jan Bleeksma Chair in Vascular Cell Biology and Atherosclerosis.

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Cleveland Clinic awarded $12 million by NIH to study the link between gut microbes and heart disease - Crain's Cleveland Business