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Relationship between stem cell factor/c-kit expression in peripheral blood and blood pressure

Journal of Human Hypertension volume 24, pages 220–225 (2010)Cite this article

Abstract

There is a high prevalence of hypertension and hypertension-related vascular disease in humans. Studies show that the expression of stem cell factor (SCF)/c-kit signalling proteins is relatively high during blood vessel repair. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between blood pressure (BP) and the expression of SCF/c-kit in peripheral blood. We carried out a cross-sectional analysis of 141 subjects in the health examination centre of our hospital. Information including waist circumference, BP, plasma glucose and serum lipids for each subject was collected. Endothelin-1 (ET-1) and tumour necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) levels in peripheral blood were determined by radio-immunity assay. Expression levels of SCF and its receptor, c-kit, in peripheral blood were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). We found a positive correlation between plasma SCF/c-kit levels and BP in these patients (SCF: hypertension 907.1±52.3 vs pre-hypertension 834.6±47.6 vs normal control 768.8±44.1 ng l−1; c-kit: hypertension 13.2±1.6 vs pre-hypertension 11.1±2.1 vs normal control 9.6±1.5 mg l−1, P<0.01). SCF/c-kit levels were also positively correlated with ET-1 and TNF-α levels (ET-1: hypertension 155.5±12.1 vs pre-hypertension 142.0±11.2 vs normal control 117.9±10.3 ng l−1; TNF-α: hypertension 14.7±3.9 vs pre-hypertension 11.6±4.2 vs normal control 8.1±2.8 ng l−1, P<0.01). Multiple linear regression analyses showed that SCF, c-kit and ET-1 are independent predictors for systolic blood pressure, and that SCF, c-kit, ET-1 and TNF-α are independent predictors for diastolic blood pressure. SCF/c-kit levels increase with BP levels are positively correlated with ET-1 and TNF-α levels.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 30770890).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Cardiology, First Affiliated Hospital, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, C, hina

    H-L Zhong, X-Z Lu, X-M Chen, X-H Yang, H-F Zhang, L Wang, K-J Cao & J Huang

  2. Department of Medicine, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, USA

    L Zhou,

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Correspondence to X-Z Lu.

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Zhong, HL., Lu, XZ., Chen, XM. et al. Relationship between stem cell factor/c-kit expression in peripheral blood and blood pressure. J Hum Hypertens 24, 220–225 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/jhh.2009.62

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