Cardio‐ankle vascular index and circulating CD34‐positive cell levels as indicators of endothelial repair activity in older Japanese men

Abstract

Aim: The cardio-ankle vascular index (CAVI) reflects functional arterial stiffness, which is related to endothelial dysfunction. CD34-positive cells carry out an important function in endothelial repair. However, there have been no reports assessing the association between CAVI and the number of circulating CD34-positive cells.Methods: We carried out a cross-sectional study of 249 Japanese men, aged 60-69 years, who underwent annual health checkups between 2013 and 2015. As individuals with high levels of circulating CD34-positive cells might indicate the influence of consumptive reduction of circulating CD34-positive cells as a result of aggressive endothelial repair, participants were stratified by circulating CD34-positive cell levels, using the median value in this population (0.95 cells/μL) as the cut-off.Results: For participants with low circulating CD34-positive cell levels, logarithmic values of circulating CD34-positive cells were inversely associated with CAVI (multivariable standardized parameter estimate [β] = −0.22, P = 0.014), but not for participants with high levels (β = −0.04, P = 0.638). In addition, even when no significant associations between CAVI and carotid intima-media thickness were detected for participants with low circulating CD34-positive cell levels (β = −0.02, P = 0.865), significant positive associations were identified for participants with high levels (β = 0.22, P = 0.028). Conclusions:As circulating CD34-positive cell count might indicate endothelial repair activity, the present results show that CAVI is affected by insufficient endothelial repair in individuals with low circulating CD34-positive cell counts. Our results also show that a positive association between CAVI and carotid intima-media thickness exists only in individuals with aggressive endothelial repair, which indicates the presence of organic arterial disease, such as atherosclerosis.

Gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase (γ-GTP) has an ambivalent association with hypertension and atherosclerosis among elderly Japanese men: a cross-sectional study

“…Recent studies revealed a close connection between bone marrow activity and vascular maintenance activity (endothelial repair activity); bone marrow-derived endothelial progenitor cells, including CD34-positive cells, play an important role in vascular maintenance through endothelium repair [8–10]. As atherosclerosis is one aspect of endothelial repair and CD34-positive cell is known to be differentiated not only into an endothelial cell but also into a foam cell which is a known source of atherosclerosis [14, 15], therefore, circulating CD34-positive cell level could act as an indicator of endothelial activity [16, 17]. The high CD34-positive cell level indicates a higher activity of endothelial repair.…”

“…Circulating CD34-positive cell levels stratified by median value could act as a determinant factor on the association between atherosclerosis (CIMT) and variables [16, 17, 23, 24]. Moreover, those levels could act as a determinant factor in the association between hypertension and variables [25, 26].…”

“…The CD34-positive cell is a source of progression for atherosclerosis as those cells could differentiate not only into an endothelial cell but also into a foam cell [14, 15]. Furthermore, our previous studies revealed that a higher level of CD34-positive cell (at and above median values) is necessary for the development of atherosclerosis [16, 17].…”

Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) polymorphism rs3025039 and atherosclerosis among older with hypertension

“…However, among older men aged 60–69 years, hypertension reduces the number of CD34-positive cells via consumption during activated endothelial repair 24 , 25 . This finding also indicates that the development of atherosclerosis as evaluated by CIMT could indicate sufficient residual capacity for angiogenesis among older individuals with hypertension.…”

Association between human T cell leukemia virus type-1 (HTLV-1) infection and advanced periodontitis in relation to atherosclerosis among elderly Japanese: a cross-sectional study

“…Aging is a process that increases vascular aging-related inflammation [39]. Age-related decline of bone marrow activity (the productivity of hematopoietic stem cells) is associated with endothelial repair deficiency which results in lower CIMT [40, 41] and reticulocyte values [42]. Therefore, higher reticulocyte and CIMT values among elderly participants without atherosclerosis could have a beneficial influence on endothelium maintenance to some extent by promoting appropriate endothelial repair activity.…”