Pilot Mouthwash Study of Pioglitazone and Simvastatin in Healthy Volunteers

Inflammation clearly contributes to the progression of the cystic fibrosis (CF) lung disease, and administration of the anti-inflammatory agent high-dose ibuprofen retards the rate of decline of pulmonary function. However, utilization of this valuable drug has been suboptimal because of its rare, but dramatic, adverse effects. Therefore, alternative anti-inflammatory agents are urgently needed. One strategy for identifying new anti-inflammatory agents is to determine the mechanism by which the only proven anti-inflammatory agent for the CF lung disease, high-dose ibuprofen, exerts its effect. If this were known, then other drugs that act by a similar mechanism become candidates for treating the CF inflammatory disease. The investigators have shown, in our preliminary studies, that high dose ibuprofen limits the delivery of neutrophils to an inflamed mucosal surface, the gingival crevices. The investigators plan to test pioglitazone and simvastatin, (ibuprofen (positive control)) to determine their anti inflammatory affects on neutrophil migration to the oral mucosa. The hypothesis to be tested is that pioglitazone, and/or simvastatin will reduce neutrophils in the oral mucosa after 10 days of therapy in mouthwashes of healthy volunteers. Ibuprofen will be used as a positive control. This study will provide pilot data from healthy volunteers to support an FDA Grant to be submitted at a future date.