Is plasma cardiotrophin-1 a marker of hypertensive heart disease?
OBJECTIVE
This study was designed to investigate whether plasma concentration of cardiotrophin-1 (CT-1), a cytokine that induces cardiomyocyte hypertrophy and stimulates cardiac fibroblasts, is related to hypertensive heart disease, as defined by the presence of echocardiographically assessed left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH).


METHODS
The study was performed in 31 normotensive subjects and 111 patients with never-treated essential hypertension (54 without LVH and 57 with LVH). Causes of LVH other than hypertension were excluded after a complete medical workup. A novel enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay was developed to measure plasma CT-1.


RESULTS
Plasma CT-1 was increased (P < 0.001) in hypertensives compared with normotensives. The value of CT-1 was higher (P < 0.001) in hypertensives with LVH than in hypertensives without LVH. Some 31% of patients without LVH exhibited values of CT-1 above the upper normal limit in normotensives. A direct correlation was found between CT-1 and left ventricular mass index (r = 0.319, P < 0.001) in all subjects. Receiver operating characteristic curves showed that a cutoff of 39 fmol/ml for CT-1 provided 75% specificity and 70% sensitivity for predicting LVH with a relative risk of 6.21 (95% confidence interval, 2.95 to 13.09).


CONCLUSIONS
These results show an association between LVH and the plasma concentration of CT-1 in essential hypertension. Although preliminary, these findings suggest that the determination of CT-1 may be an easy and reliable method for the initial screening and diagnosis of hypertensive heart disease.
López
Begoña
B
Area of Cardiovascular Pathophysiology, Centre for Applied Medical Research, School of Medicine, University of Navarra, Navarra, Spain.
González
Arantxa
A
Lasarte
Juan J
JJ
Sarobe
Pablo
P
Borrás
Francisco
F
Díaz
Agnes
A
Barba
Joaquín
J
Tomás
Lourdes
L
Lozano
Elisa
E
Serrano
Manuel
M
Varo
Nerea
N
Beloqui
Oscar
O
Fortuño
María A
MA
Díez
Javier
J
D000818:Animals; D000906:Antibodies; D015415:Biomarkers; D001794:Blood Pressure; D016207:Cytokines / Q000097:blood* / Q000276:immunology; D004452:Echocardiography; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay / Q000379:methods; D005260:Female; D005355:Fibrosis; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000097:blood*; D017379:Hypertrophy, Left Ventricular / Q000097:blood* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D020097:Natriuretic Peptide, Brain; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins / Q000097:blood; D010446:Peptide Fragments / Q000097:blood; D011347:Procollagen / Q000097:blood; D012372:ROC Curve; D011817:Rabbits
D000906:Antibodies; D015415:Biomarkers; D016207:Cytokines; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins; D010446:Peptide Fragments; D011347:Procollagen; C109794:pro-brain natriuretic peptide (1-76); C042813:procollagen type I carboxy terminal peptide; D020097:Natriuretic Peptide, Brain; C092073:cardiotrophin 1