title: Association between cardiotrophin 1 levels and central blood pressure in untreated patients with essential hypertension.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Cardiotrophin 1 (CT-1) is an interleukin 6-related cytokine recently implicated in cardiac hypertrophy and vascular damage in essential hypertension (EH). We aimed first to determine CT-1 levels in naive, untreated patients with grade I EH (UH) as compared with normotensive (NT) individuals and, second, to investigate a possible association of CT-1 levels with indices of arterial stiffness.
  
  
  METHODS
  We enrolled 45 consecutive untreated patients recently diagnosed with grade I EH by means of office and ambulatory blood pressure (BP) measurements and 25 age- and sex-matched NT subjects. CT-1 levels were measured with a commercially available enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay kit, and indices of arterial stiffness were determined by applanation tonometry.
  
  
  RESULTS
  CT-1 levels were significantly elevated in UH patients compared with NT subjects (P < 0.001). Furthermore, CT-1 levels correlated positively with office, ambulatory and central BP. A significant bivariable correlation was also found between CT-1 levels and pulse wave velocity (P = 0.02). In the multivariable analysis, central systolic and diastolic BP proved the only significant predictors of CT-1 levels after controlling for other related factors.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  To our knowledge, this is the first study that correlates CT-1 levels with ambulatory and central BP, as well as with pulse wave velocity in patients with essential hypertension. Thus, studying the effects of CT-1 in the cardiovascular system in patients with EH represents a promising area of investigation in the future.
authors.affiliation: 2nd Propedeutic Department of Internal Medicine, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece.
authors.forename: Eugenia
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Gkaliagkousi
authors.forename: Eleni
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Gavriilaki
authors.forename: Barbara
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Nikolaidou
authors.forename: Fani
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Chatzopoulou
authors.forename: Panagiota
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Anyfanti
authors.forename: Areti
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Triantafyllou
authors.forename: Konstantinos
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Petidis
authors.forename: Chrysanthos
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Zamboulis
authors.forename: Stella
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Douma
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood; D001794:Blood Pressure; D018660:Blood Pressure Monitoring, Ambulatory; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D016207:Cytokines / Q000097:blood*; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000097:blood* / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000503:physiopathology*; D008297:Male; D008365:Manometry; D008875:Middle Aged; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011379:Prognosis; D063177:Pulse Wave Analysis; D015854:Up-Regulation; D059289:Vascular Stiffness
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D016207:Cytokines; C092073:cardiotrophin 1
keywords: arterial stiffness; blood pressure; cardiotrophin-1; central blood pressure; essential hypertension; hypertension.