Soluble CD163 is associated with body mass index and blood pressure in hypertensive obese Saudi patients

Eur J Clin Invest 2012; 42 (11): 12211226 Abstract Background The hallmark of vascular inflammation is the recruitment of circulating leucocytes, primarily monocytes, macrophages and T lymphocytes, into the vascular wall; however, the link between monocyte/macrophage activation and hypertension has not been established as yet. In this study, we determined how sCD163, a monocyte/macrophage soluble scavenger receptor and immunomodulator, relates to arterial blood pressure (BP) in hypertensive Saudi individuals. Materials and methods A total of 90 (30 non-hypertensive obese, 30 hypertensive obese and 30 lean normotensive controls) adult Saudi subjects, aged 4060 years, participated in this cross-sectional study. Serum fasting blood glucose, triglycerides, total cholesterol, HDL-cholesterol (HDL-C), LDL-cholesterol (LDL-C), leptin, adiponectin, resistin, insulin, tumour necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-a), PAI-1, angiotensin II, high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP) and sCD163 were measured in all subjects studied. Results sCD163 concentrations were significantly increased in obese hypertensive patients compared to controls (P = 0.016). Positive correlations between sCD163 and body mass index (BMI) (r = 0.27, P = 0.01), systolic BP (r = 0.25, P = 0.01), diastolic BP (r = 0.33, P = 0.001), LDL-C (r = 0.21, P = 0.04), TNF-a (r = 0.23, P = 0.02) and hsCRP (r = 0.33, P = 0.008) were observed. Positive correlations between sCD163 and diastolic BP (r = 0.23, P = 0.04) and LDL-C (r = 0.22, P = 0.03) remained significant after controlling for BMI. Conclusions Taken together, these data demonstrate that the monocyte/macrophage activation-related sCD163 is positively associated with BMI and increased arterial BP with the elevation in diastolic BP being independent of the BMI.