Hypoglycaemia and atherosclerosis
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Hypoglycaemia worsens atherosclerosis through inflammatory pathways
IRAS ID
162092
Contact name
Ian Sabroe
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Research summary
People with diabetes are at increased risk of having heart attacks and strokes. During the treatment of diabetes, blood sugars sometimes run too high, and sometimes run too low. Many studies link high blood sugars with increased risk of heart disease, but it's now becoming clear that low blood sugars may also cause heart disease and strokes. We want to understand how this can happen. To do this, we will deliberately lower the blood sugar in healthy volunteers by giving them controlled doses of insulin. We will then see if this causes inflammatory cells to be released into the blood that could in theory damage the heart. We will follow this up by giving a low dose challenge to the same people two days later of a substance derived from dead bacteria. This will test whether the immune system has been stimulated by the episode of low blood sugar. These studies will help us understand how diabetes treatments might inadvertently make heart disease risks worse, and will enable us to develop new treatments to reduce the risk of heart disease and stroke in people with diabetes.
REC name
Yorkshire & The Humber - South Yorkshire Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
14/YH/1132
Date of REC Opinion
3 Oct 2014
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion