title: Negative association between serum levels of matrix metalloproteinases-2 and -9 and aortic stiffness in healthy adults.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Arterial stiffness is a marker of cardiovascular disease and independent predictor of cardiovascular risk. Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) are zinc-dependent endopeptidases that degrade components of the extracellular matrix, which is an important determinant of the arterial elastic properties. This study sought to investigate the association between MMP-2 and MMP-9 (gelatinase A and B respectively) and arterial stiffness in healthy human subjects.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 213 apparently healthy subjects (mean age 41 years, range 18 to 60, 141 males and 72 females) were studied. Carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity (PWV) and aortic augmentation index (AIx) were measured as indices of aortic stiffness and wave reflections respectively. Associations with serum levels of total MMP-2, total MMP-9 and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP) were evaluated with multiple regression models.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In these models, PWV exhibited a significant negative association with both MMP-2 (standardized b=-0.177, P=0.003) and MMP-9 (b=-0.122, P=0.032), after controlling for potential confounding factors such as age, gender, blood pressure, heart rate, body-mass index, smoking habits (pack-years), blood glucose, total cholesterol, and level of subclinical inflammation expressed by hsCRP (adjusted R2 of models 0.352 and 0.338 respectively). On the other hand, no relationship between MMP-2 or MMP-9 and AIx was found.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Circulating MMP-2 and MMP-9 are inversely associated with large artery stiffness but not with wave reflections in healthy persons. This finding implies that these gelatinases may have a possible role in the determination of arterial function and has potential implications for their involvement in the pathophysiology of cardiovascular diseases.
authors.affiliation: 1st Department of Cardiology, Athens Medical School, Hippokration Hospital, Athens, Greece. cvlachop@otenet.gr
authors.forename: Charalambos
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Vlachopoulos
authors.forename: Konstantinos
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Aznaouridis
authors.forename: Ioanna
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Dima
authors.forename: Nikolaos
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Ioakeimidis
authors.forename: Carmen
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Vasiliadou
authors.forename: Alexandra
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Zervoudaki
authors.forename: Theodoros
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Gialernios
authors.forename: Christodoulos
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Stefanadis
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001011:Aorta / Q000201:enzymology / Q000473:pathology; D001018:Aortic Diseases / Q000097:blood* / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D020778:Matrix Metalloproteinase 2 / Q000097:blood* / Q000502:physiology; D020780:Matrix Metalloproteinase 9 / Q000097:blood* / Q000502:physiology; D008875:Middle Aged
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D020778:Matrix Metalloproteinase 2; D020780:Matrix Metalloproteinase 9