What?
As we age, the protective caps of our chromosomes shorten. This causes our cells to ‘age’ and become less healthy. When this shortening happens within our immune system cells, it can increase the risk of heart attacks and other heart problems.
There is a drug called TA-65MD which may help to make the protective caps longer and therefore healthier again.
The TACTIC trial aimed to establish whether treatment with TA-65MD for one year can in fact increase the length of the protective caps and reduce the amount of aged cells in patients with heart disease.
How?
90 patients with heart disease, who have had a heart attack were recruited to the trial. They were split into two groups. One group were given a placebo (dummy drug) and the other group were given TA-65MD.
The patients did not know which group they were in. All patients had blood samples and echocardiograms taken before and after the trial in order to compare results.
Watch our short video about the trial
Chief investigator
Prof Kim Spyridopoulos (CI), Dr David Austin (PI)
Current status
Completed, no longer recruiting.
Findings
This results of this trial were published in GeroScience in April 2023. You can access the publication using the following link – TACTIC trial results
Participating sites
South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust