Increased Mobilization of Mesenchymal Stem Cells in Patients With Essential Hypertension: The Effect of Left Ventricular Hypertrophy

Abstract

Stem cells have great clinical significance in many cardiovascular diseases. However, there are limited data regarding the involvement of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) in the pathophysiology of arterial hypertension. The aim of this study was to investigate the circulation of MSCs in patients with essential hypertension. The authors included 24 patients with untreated essential hypertension and 19 healthy individuals. Using flow cytometry, MSCs in peripheral blood, as a population of CD45−/CD34−/CD90+ cells and also as a population of CD45−/CD34−/CD105+ cells, were measured. The resulting counts were translated into the percentage of MSCs in the total cells. Hypertensive patients were shown to have increased circulating CD45−/CD34−/CD90+ compared with controls (0.0069%±0.012% compared with 0.00085%±0.0015%, respectively; P=.039). No significant difference in circulating CD45−/CD34−/CD105+ cells was found between hypertensive patients' and normotensive patients' peripheral blood (0.018%±0.013% compared with 0.015%±0.014%, respectively; P=.53). Notably, CD45−/CD34−/CD90+ circulating cells were positively correlated with left ventricular mass index (LVMI) (r=0.516, P<.001). Patients with essential hypertension have increased circulating MSCs compared with normotensive patients, and the number of MSCs is correlated with LVMI. These findings contribute to the understanding of the pathophysiology of hypertension and might suggest a future therapeutic target.

Mesenchymal stem cells in obesity: insights for translational applications

“…Another important comorbidity of obesity is hypertension. 93,94 Marketou et al 95 reported increased numbers of circulating MSCs in patients with hypertension compared to normotensive patients (Table 1); however, little is known about the relationship between MSC and obesity-associated hypertension. In this context, the renin-angiotensin system (RAS) is of note.…”

Pathological Left Ventricular Hypertrophy and Stem Cells: Current Evidence and New Perspectives

“…These are present as a rare population of cells in bone marrow, but under pathological conditions a small percentage of them are mobilized and may also be detected in peripheral blood. Further to the previous study, our research group has also determined that patients with essential hypertension have higher levels of circulating MSCs compared to normotensives, while the number of MSCs correlates with left ventricular mass index, suggesting that they might be implicated in the pathophysiology of hypertensive cardiomyopathy [ 61 ].…”

“…Notably, an altered expression of early cardiac marker genes and differentiation-specific marker genes was found in the peripheral blood mononuclear cell fraction of patients with HCM compared to control individuals [ 71 ]. Additionally, patients with HCM show an increased mobilization of MSCs compared to healthy individuals [ 61 ].…”

Endogenous Mobilization of Mesenchymal Stromal Cells: A Pathway for Interorgan Communication?

“…Conversely, the circulation of endogenous MSCs greatly increases in response to various types of injuries. Indeed, skeletal traumas, regardless of their severity (Alm et al, 2010), cardiomyopathies (Marketou et al, 2014(Marketou et al, , 2015, coronary syndrome (Wojakowski et al, 2008), skin burns (Mansilla et al, 2006), liver damages (Chen et al, 2010;Liu et al, 2015), and some types of cancers (Fernandez et al, 1997;Bian et al, 2009) are some examples of clinical situations triggering this increase. Whether endogenous MSCs circulate in vivo is not a matter of debate anymore but rather a matter of methods of investigation, time frame (Churchman et al, 2020), and clinical context.…”