Sildenafil improves vascular endothelial function in patients with cystic fibrosis
Abstract
Cystic fibrosis (CF), characterized by defective CFTR function, is associated with multiple systemic complications, including vascular dysfunction. Sildenafil, a phosphodiesterase type 5 inhibitor, not only enhances nitric oxide (NO) metabolism but has been shown to improve CFTR functionality as well. Thus, sildenafil has been proposed as a therapy to improve vascular health in CF; however, its potential therapeutic role has yet to be determined. We sought to investigate the effect of sildenafil on endothelial function in patients with CF. Patients with CF completed a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover study with an acute dose of sildenafil (50 mg) or placebo followed by a 4-wk open-label extension with sildenafil (20 mg/day). Flow-mediated dilation (FMD) was used to evaluate endothelial function before and after treatments. In addition, phosphorylated endothelial NO synthase (pNOS3) and total NOS3 protein expression was determined from endothelial cells that were exposed to plasma from the patients before and after 4 wk of sildenafil treatment. No changes ( P ≥ 0.110) in endothelial function were observed after the acute dose of sildenafil. However, FMD significantly ( P = 0.029) increased after 4 wk of treatment (∆FMD: 1.5 ± 2.2%). Moreover, pNOS3 protein expression significantly ( P = 0.013) increased after 4 wk of treatment (∆pNOS3: 0.31 ± 0.39 arbitrary units) and was associated ( r = 0.593, P = 0.033) with the change in FMD. These data suggest that…
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Evidence Hub reads this as a randomized trial, done in people. Its evidence level is 2 of 5 (High · randomized trial). Randomized trials of a reasonable size are the strongest single-study design.
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