Nicotinomide Riboside With and Without Resveratrol to Improve Functioning in Peripheral Artery Disease: The NICE Trial

The over-riding goals of Northwestern University’s Strategically Focused Research Network (SFRN) in peripheral artery disease (PAD) are to characterize the specific ischemia-related calf skeletal muscle abnormalities in PAD and to define associations of these calf skeletal muscle abnormalities with functional impairment and decline in PAD (Projects #1 and #2). In Project #3, Northwestern’s SFRN in PAD will conduct a randomized clinical trial to determine whether a novel intervention, nicotinamide riboside (NR), with and without resveratrol, improves walking performance in people with PAD by improving calf muscle mitochondrial dysfunction. Northwestern’s SFRN in PAD will be led by Dr. Mary McDermott, who has more than 20 years of experience successfully leading NIH funded multi-disciplinary investigative teams that have defined the presence and significance of functional impairment and decline in PAD and have identified novel therapies for improving functioning and preventing mobility loss in PAD. Dr. Peterson at the University of Kentucky will perform analyses on human muscle biopsies provided by Dr. McDermott. The current proposal builds on the investigative team’s prior work and provides an opportunity for this highly productive and cohesive team to apply innovative methods and identify novel interventions to prevent functional decline in PAD.