Inflammatory markers in primary aldosteronism

Primary aldosteronism (PA) is the most common cause of endocrine hypertension with a high frequency of cardiovascular complications. The unfavorable cardiometabolic profile may be due to aldosterone-mediated activation of inflammatory cells, circulatory cytokines and activation of collagen synthesis in the vessel wall. Aim of our study was to evaluate differences in the levels of hsCRP, IL-6, TNF-alpha and N-terminal propeptide of collagen I (PINP) in patients with PA and essential hypertension (EH) as a control group, and between the subtypes of PA (aldosterone producing adenoma - APA, idiopathic hyperaldosteronism - IHA). We studied 28 patients with PA (IHA - 10 patients, APA - 12 patients, 6 unclassified) and 28 matched patients with EH. There were no differences in the levels of inflammatory markers between the followed groups [EH vs. PA: TNF-alpha (5.09 [3.68-6.32] vs. 4.84 [3.62-6.50] pg/ml), IL-6 (0.94 [0.70-1.13] vs. 0.97 [0.71-1.28] pg/ml), hsCRP (0.53 [0.25-1.54] vs. 0.37 [0.31-0.61] mg/l), leukocytes (6.35+/-1.42 vs. 5.97+/-1.29 10(9) l); APA vs. IHA: TNF-alpha (4.54 [3.62-7.03] vs. 5.19 [4.23-5.27] pg/ml), IL-6 (0.96 [0.63-1.21] vs. 0.90 [0.65-1.06] pg/ml), hsCRP (0.34 [0.29-0.47] vs. 0.75 [0.36-1.11] mg/l), leukocytes (6.37+/-1.41 vs. 5.71+/-1.21 10(9) l)]. Significant differences in the levels of PINP between PA and EH group were observed (35.18 [28.46-41.16] vs. 45.21 [36.95-62.81] microg/l, p