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For many people suffering from high blood pressure the long-term solution is daily pills and regular monitoring from your doctor with alterations to your dosage or changes to your pills as required. So just how much better would it be if you could simply be vaccinated against high blood pressure and do away with the nuisance of your daily pills? Nearly 1 in 3 Americans suffer from high blood pressure but, as a result of the complicated mix of tablets frequently required for treatment, only about one third of these people actually have their blood pressure under control. Nevertheless, this might be about to change in the near future. In a trial conducted earlier this year (2007) a total of 72 patients (65 men and 7 women with an average age of just over 51) suffering from mild or moderate high blood pressure were given a low dose (100 micrograms) vaccine, a high dose (300 micrograms) vaccine or a placebo. This injection was then repeated after four weeks and at the end of three months. Fourteen days after the final injection it was found that the individuals injected with the high dose vaccine were showing a fall in excess of 5 mm Hg in their systolic blood pressure and almost 3 mm Hg in their diastolic blood pressure reading. Possible more significant, it was also found that the characteristic, and potentially dangerous, spike in blood pressure that occurs in the early morning between 5 am and 8 am was also down markedly by 25 mm Hg systolic and 13 mm Hg diastolic. The trial patients all tolerated the vaccine well and there were no safety issues during the course of the trial. Okay, but just how does the vaccine work? At the moment high blood pressure is treated using several drugs that are designed to act in different ways. Two of the classes of drugs in common use are angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors (such as Lotensin, Univasc, Monopril, Altace, Accupril, Vasotec, Prinivil, Capoten, Mavik, Aceon and Zestril) and angiotensin-2 (AT-2) receptor blockers (such as Atacand, Cozaar, Avapro, Micardis and Teveten). All of these drugs work by blocking the action of a molecule that causes the blood vessels to narrow and thus to raise the pressure within the blood vessels. The trial vaccine, which is known as CYT006-ANgQb, works in precisely the same way as these two presently used drugs and so could certainly be an alternative for those individuals whose condition is currently treated with ACE inhibitors or AT-2 receptor blockers. But what about those individuals whose high blood pressure is being treated using the alternatives of beta blockers (such as Sectral, Ziac, Betapace, Corgard, Blocadren, Inderal, Tenormin, Cartol and Zebeta) or calcium channel blockers (such as Norvasc, Lotrel, Cardizem, Tiazac, Calan, Vascor, Nimotop, Procardia, Isoptin, Plendil, Sular, Adalat and Verelan)? Of course, it is very early days yet and additional trials will be required before we see a vaccine in widespread use to control high blood pressure. If the researchers are right however it is likely that this vaccine is going to be effective for a lot of sufferers, regardless of the treatment presently being given. Only time will tell, however this is clearly a very encouraging development.
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