# Biomarkers of myocardial injury, blood pressure and cardiovascular outcomes in SPRINT

> **NIH NIH R01** · UT SOUTHWESTERN MEDICAL CENTER · 2020 · $331,802

## Abstract

Abstract
Recently, the SPRINT trial demonstrated that compared with standard blood pressure
treatment, intensive treatment reduced global CVD while increasing clinically-relevant adverse
effects. Broad application and extension of the SPRINT trial results will create enormous
practical challenges. Thus, there is a critical need to develop personalized and pragmatic
approaches to BP treatment that would optimize the identification of individuals that would
receive the greatest benefit from intensive BP treatment. Biomarkers that reflect intermediate
disease phenotypes may represent powerful tools to guide hypertension treatment given their
strong association with clinical outcomes and the feasibility of widespread application. Prior
literature suggests that both high sensitivity cardiac troponin (hs-cTnT) and N-terminal-pro-BNP
(NT-proBNP) characterize individuals at high risk for both HF and CVD mortality, the clinical
outcomes most robustly reduced by intensive BP control in SPRINT. In addition to baseline
biomarker levels, increases in hs-cTnT or NTproBNP are associated with increased risk for
cardiovascular mortality and heart failure, whereas decreases in these markers are associated
with lower event rates. Therefore, these observations suggest that these biomarkers may
identify high-risk individuals who merit more intensive BP goals and may be useful for
monitoring the response to BP lowering. Therefore, we propose to measure hs-cTnT and NT-
proBNP at baseline, year 1, and year 2 in the SPRINT trial to accomplish the following aims:
Specific Aim 1: Determine if SPRINT participants with early cardiovascular end organ damage
derive greater benefit from intensive BP lowering (augmented reduction in SPRINT primary
outcome); Specific Aim 2: Among SPRINT trial participants, determine the impact of intensive
BP control on hs-cTnT and NT-proBNP changes from baseline to follow-up (year 1 & 2). The
findings from this research will help identify those individuals most likely to benefit from intensive
BP control, providing a novel, effective, and inexpensive personalized BP management strategy
that can be implemented broadly.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9926727
- **Project number:** 5R01HL144112-03
- **Recipient organization:** UT SOUTHWESTERN MEDICAL CENTER
- **Principal Investigator:** Jarett D Berry
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $331,802
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2018-08-15 → 2023-04-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9926727

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9926727, Biomarkers of myocardial injury, blood pressure and cardiovascular outcomes in SPRINT (5R01HL144112-03). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9926727. Licensed CC0.

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