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Updated: Jun 12, 2026

On-Chip Endothelial Inflammatory Phenotyping
Published on: July 21, 2012
Inflammatory activation in children with primary hypertension
Mieczyslaw Litwin1, Jacek Michałkiewicz, Anna Niemirska
1Department of Research, The Children's Memorial Health Institute, Warsaw, Poland. m.litwin@czd.pl
Insights
In children with primary hypertension (PH), elevated inflammatory markers like CRP, MIP-1beta, and RANTES suggest a vascular inflammatory process contributing to target organ damage (TOD). This inflammation may precede broader systemic changes.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Cardiology
- Inflammation Research
- Vascular Biology
Background:
- Low-grade inflammation is implicated in primary hypertension (PH) and target organ damage (TOD).
- Understanding inflammatory profiles in children with PH is crucial for early intervention.
- Metabolic syndrome (MS) is increasingly recognized in pediatric hypertension.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate the profile of inflammatory mediators in children with untreated PH.
- To investigate the relationship between inflammatory markers, metabolic syndrome, and target organ damage in pediatric PH.
Main Methods:
- Cross-sectional study comparing 44 children with PH to 30 healthy controls.
- Measurement of inflammatory mediators: CRP, RANTES, MIP-1beta, MIP-1alpha, MCP-1, IL-6, angiogenin, adiponectin.
- Assessment of metabolic syndrome criteria, body composition (MRI), carotid intima-media thickness (cIMT), and left ventricular mass index.
Main Results:
- Patients with PH showed higher CRP, MIP-1beta, and RANTES than controls.
- CRP levels correlated with MS criteria, BMI, visceral fat, and cIMT.
- RANTES correlated with lipid profiles; angiogenin correlated with BMI and visceral fat.
- Adiponectin was lower in patients with increased cIMT, suggesting vascular damage.
Conclusions:
- Elevated RANTES and MIP-1beta in pediatric PH suggest a specific vascular inflammatory process.
- CRP elevation and its correlations point to systemic inflammation linked to metabolic alterations and early vascular changes.
- The findings indicate that vascular inflammation may precede systemic inflammatory markers in pediatric PH.
Abstract:
Low-grade inflammation plays a role in the pathogenesis of primary hypertension (PH) and target organ damage (TOD). We evaluated the profile of inflammatory mediators (CRP, RANTES, MIP-1beta, MIP-1alpha, MCP-1, IL-6, angiogenin, adiponectin) in 30 healthy children (12.7 +/- 3.3 years) and 44 patients with untreated PH (13.7 +/- 2.7 years; n.s). Patients had greater concentrations of CRP, MIP-1beta, and RANTES than controls (all p < 0.05). Children with metabolic syndrome (MS) had greater CRP than children without MS (p = 0.007) and CRP correlated with number of MS criteria, body mass index (BMI), visceral fat, deep subcutaneous fat assessed by magnetic resonance imaging, carotid intima-media thickness (cIMT), left ventricular mass index, and markers of oxidative stress. RANTES correlated with cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, ApoB, and ApoB/ApoA1. Angiogenin correlated with BMI, waist circumference, visceral fat, uric acid, and patients with cIMT>2SD had greater concentration of angiogenin than those with normal cIMT (p = 0.03). Adiponectin was lower in patients with cIMT>2SD than in those with normal cIMT (p = 0.02). No model explaining variability of TOD has been built. Elevated RANTES and MIP-1beta and normal IL-6 and TNF-alpha levels indicate a vascular inflammatory process. Lack of correlation between CRP and chemokines suggests that vascular inflammation in PH precedes the systemic inflammatory changes.
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