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Increased levels of CD40-CD40 ligand system in patients with essential hypertension
Jin-Chuan Yan1, Gen-Shan Ma, Zong-Gui Wu
1Department of Cardiology, Affiliated Zhong Da Hospital, Southeast University, Nanjing 210009, China. yanjinchuan@hotmail.com
Background:
Although it has been hypothesized that hypertension is in part an inflammatory disorder, clinical data linking inflammation with incident hypertension are scarce. There is evidence that have shown that CD40-CD40L interaction plays a pathogenic role in inflammatory disorders. We assessed whether CD40 system expressions were altered in patients including 30 with hypertension grade 1, 80 with hypertension grade 2 and 40 with hypertension grade 3.
Methods:
Twenty normal controls and 150 patients with essential hypertension were investigated. The expression of CD40 and CD40L on platelet was analyzed by indirect-immunofluorescence flow cytometry and soluble CD40L level was determined by a commercially available ELISA. C-reactive protein was also measured by ELISA.
Results:
All patients with hypertension showed a significant increase of CD40 (67.1+/-9.6 Mean Fluorescence Intensity, MFI) and CD40L (15.3+/-5.0 MFI) coexpression on platelets as well as sCD40L levels (12.8+/-3.9 ng/ml ) compared with controls (p<0.0001). We found that CRP levels related to CD40-CD40L system. We also observed a slight correlation between sCD40L level and blood pressure. During 3 months follow-up, patients with enhanced levels of sCD40L (>15 ng/ml) indicated a tough control of blood pressure.
Conclusion:
Patients with essential hypertension show increased coexpression of CD40 system, which suggests that hypertension is in part an inflammatory disorder.
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