Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • News & Views
  • Published:

Risk factors

Plasma renin activity predicts renal impairment

Surprising new data from Sever and colleagues suggest that in patients who have hypertension and cardiovascular disease risk factors, increased plasma renin activity is associated with future renal impairment but not with cardiovascular events or all-cause mortality. These novel data are important but difficult to explain.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

References

  1. Sever, P. S. et al. Is plasma renin activity a biomarker for the prediction of renal and cardiovascular outcomes in treated hypertensive patients? Observations from the Anglo-Scandinavian Cardiac Outcomes Trial (ASCOT). Eur. Heart J. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/eurheartj/ehs241.

  2. Tigerstedt, R. & Bergman, P. G. Niere und Kreislauf [German]. Skand. Arch. Physiol. 8, 223–271 (1898).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Brunner, H. R. et al. Essential hypertension: renin and aldosterone, heart attack and stroke. N. Engl. J. Med. 286, 441–449 (1972).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Alderman, M. H. et al. Association of the renin–sodium profile with the risk of myocardial infarction in patients with hypertension. N. Engl. J. Med. 324, 1098–1104 (1991).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Sealey, J. E. & Laragh, J. H. Aliskiren, the first renin inhibitor for treating hypertension: reactive renin secretion may limit its effectiveness. Am. J. Hypertens. 20, 587–597 (2007).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Masson, S. et al. Elevated plasma renin activity predicts adverse outcome in chronic heart failure, independently of pharmacologic therapy: data from the Valsartan Heart Failure Trial (Val-HeFT). J. Card. Fail. 16, 964–970 (2010).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Tocci1, G. et al. Angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors, angiotensin II receptor blockers and diabetes: a meta-analysis of placebo-controlled clinical trials. Am. J. Hypertens. 24, 582–590 (2011).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. White, H. D. et al. Mortality and morbidity remain high despite captopril and/or valsartan therapy in elderly patients with left ventricular systolic dysfunction, heart failure, or both after acute myocardial infarction: results from the Valsartan in Acute Myocardial Infarction Trial (VALIANT). Circulation 112, 3391–3399 (2005).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. ONTARGET Investigators et al. Telmisartan, ramipril, or both in patients at high risk for vascular events. N. Engl. J. Med. 358, 1547–1559 (2008).

  10. Schefe, J. H. et al. A novel signal transduction cascade involving direct physical interaction of the renin/prorenin receptor with the transcription factor promyelocytic zinc finger protein. Circ. Res. 99, 1355–1366 (2006).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The author declares no competing financial interests.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Unger, T. Plasma renin activity predicts renal impairment. Nat Rev Nephrol 8, 686–687 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrneph.2012.243

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nrneph.2012.243

Search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing