Association between Human Urotensin II and Essential Hypertension—A 1:1 Matched Case-Control Study

Hao Peng,Anna Tan,Yan Li,Yonghong Zhang,Mingzhi Zhang,Jennifer Olofindayo,Xiaoqin Cai

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0081764

Abstract

ObjectiveWe aimed to evaluate the controversial association between human urotensin II and essential hypertension in untreated hypertensive cases and normotensive controls.Methods197 newly diagnosed hypertensive patients and 197 age- and sex-matched normotensive controls were studied. Plasma urotensin II, nitric oxide metabolites, and other traditional biomarkers were examined.ResultsHypertensive patients had higher urotensin II [median (interquartile rang): 9.32 (7.86–11.52) ng/mL vs 8.52 (7.07–10.41) ng/mL] and lower nitric oxide metabolites [19.19 (2.55–38.48) µmol/L vs 23.83 (11.97–43.40) µmol/L] than normotensive controls. Urotensin II was positively correlated with systolic blood pressure (r = 0.169, P<0.001) and diastolic blood pressure (r = 0.113, P = 0.024) while negatively correlated with nitric oxide metabolites (r = −0.112, P = 0.027). In multivariate regression analysis, subjects in the highest quartile of urotensin II were more likely to have hypertension than those in the lowest quartile (OR, 2.58; 95% CI, 1.21–5.49). Sub-group analyses in 106 pairs of cases and controls with either both normal or both abnormal nitric oxide metabolites levels showed that the association between urotensin II levels and hypertension persisted (P value for trend = 0.039).ConclusionHuman urotensin II is markedly associated with essential hypertension, and the association is independent of nitric oxide metabolites. Our results indicated that urotensin II might be an independent risk factor for essential hypertension.

Highlights

Hypertension is a leading cause of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality and highly prevalent worldwide [1,2]
To examine the actual relationship between urotensin II (UII) and hypertension, we studied the association while controlling for nitric oxide metabolites in newly diagnosed untreated essential hypertensive patients and ageand sex-matched normotensive controls
Hypertension was defined as a systolic blood pressure (SBP) of 140 mmHg or more, or a diastolic blood pressure (DBP) of 90 mmHg or more and normotension was defined as SBP less than 120 mmHg and DBP less than 80 mmHg [14]

Summary

Introduction

Hypertension is a leading cause of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality and highly prevalent worldwide [1,2]. Some studies reported that UII levels in hypertensive patients were equal to [7] or lower [4] than UII levels in normotensive controls. UII is a vasoactive peptide initially isolated from the neurosecretory system of the Goby fish [8] and later from humans [9]. It is involved in the regulation of the cardiovascular system in humans [9]. UII stimulates vasoconstriction or vasodilation depending on the vascular bed [10,11] and on the condition of endothelium [9,12].This might explain why the association between UII and hypertension are inconsistently reported in previous populationbased studies

Methods

Results

Conclusion