Harnessing NAD+ Metabolism as Therapy for Cardiometabolic Diseases.

Abstract

This review summarizes current understanding on the roles of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD+) metabolism in the pathogeneses and treatment development of metabolic and cardiac diseases. NAD+ was identified as a redox cofactor in metabolism and a co-substrate for a wide range of NAD+-dependent enzymes. NAD+ redox imbalance and depletion are associated with many pathologies where metabolism plays a key role, for example cardiometabolic diseases. This review is to delineate the current knowledge about harnessing NAD+ metabolism as potential therapy for cardiometabolic diseases. The review has summarized how NAD+ redox imbalance and depletion contribute to the pathogeneses of cardiometabolic diseases. Therapeutic evidence involving activation of NAD+ synthesis in pre-clinical and clinical studies was discussed. While activation of NAD+ synthesis shows great promise for therapy, the field of NAD+ metabolism is rapidly evolving. Therefore, it is expected that new mechanisms will be discovered as therapeutic targets for cardiometabolic diseases.