The Potential Role of Circulating Endothelial Cells and Endothelial Progenitor Cells in the Prediction of Left Ventricular Hypertrophy in Hypertensive Patients

Abstract

Background The main aim of present study is to evaluate the potential role of circulating endothelial cells (CECs) and endothelial progenitor cells (CEPCs) – representing specific markers of endothelial damage, in the prediction of left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) in hypertensive patients categorized into two groups; mild (MH) and resistant hypertension (RH). Materials and Methods Thirty patients with MH and 28 subjects with RH were involved in the study. In both groups, patients were divided into an LVH and non-LVH group. The control group included 33 age and sex-matched normotensive volunteers. Physical examination, laboratory tests and echocardiography were conducted. Results In both the MH and RH group, patients with as well as without LVH demonstrated a higher number of CECs and a lower ratio of CEPCs/CECs as compared to the healthy control. Multiple linear regression analysis showed a positive association of CEPCs with left ventricular mass (LVM) and left ventricular mass index (LVMI), independently of other confounders. Conclusion Our results suggest that endothelial injury observed as an elevated CECs number and its impaired regeneration, reflected by a lowered CEPCs/CECs ratio, precede LVH occurrence and may play a significant role in LVH development regardless of the clinical severity of hypertension. Moreover, independent correlation of CEPCs with echocardiographic (ECG) incidences of LVH suggests their potential use as a screening biomarker to stratify the risk of LVH development.

Development and Validation of a Random Forest Diagnostic Model of Acute Myocardial Infarction Based on Ferroptosis-Related Genes in Circulating Endothelial Cells

“…In fact, changes in CECs are important predictors of cardiovascular events before the development of atherosclerotic morphological changes ( 52 ). At present, there have been a series of research on the evaluation of CEC functions ( 53 , 54 ). So far, there is no reliable and recognized gold standard for the detection of functional changes of CECs ( 55 ).…”

Vascular Remodeling in Moyamoya Angiopathy: From Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells to Endothelial Cells

“…In patients with myocardial infarction, alterations of these two subsets may attest to the extent of vascular injury and the associated angiogenic response [ 76 ]. Other results suggested that endothelial injury, observed as an increased CEC number, and impaired regeneration, reflected by a lowered CEPCs/CECs ratio, preceded left ventricular hypertrophy in hypertensive patient’s occurrence [ 77 ].…”

Comparative efficacy of different types of antihypertensive drugs in reversing left ventricular hypertrophy as determined with echocardiography in hypertensive patients: A network meta‐analysis of randomized controlled trials

“…Although meta‐analyses can improve the statistical power and provide more accurate estimates of the effect value, the results depend largely on the criteria for inclusion in the study 63,64 . Molecular biology research has shown that LVH in hypertensive patients is a process evolving from quantitative change to qualitative change 65,66 . This process includes gene translocation of myosin heavy chain, encoding myosin, membrane protein, and energy metabolism of protein gene shift 67‐69 .…”

“…63,64 Molecular biology research has shown that LVH in hypertensive patients is a process evolving from quantitative change to qualitative change. 65,66 This process includes gene translocation of myosin heavy chain, encoding myosin, membrane protein, and energy metabolism of protein gene shift. [67][68][69] Brigitte et al have shown that it takes at least 100 days to reverse this process.…”