Expression of Serum Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor and Angiopoietin Receptor Tie-2 in Essential Hypertension

Abstract

Objective: Hypertension is a common but incompletely understood disease. Emerging evidence supports a novel view of hypertension as a disease of inadequate or aberrant responses to angiogenic factors. In the present study we aimed to investigate the serum levels of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), an angiogenic factor and soluble angiopoetin receptor Tie-2 (sTie-2) in patient with essential hypertension. Methods: In the present study 90 individuals (mean age 48 ± 7 years, 56 males and 34 females) have been divided in to three groups as 30 patients with hypertension, 30 healthy individuals (with a family history of hypertension) and 30 healthy individuals (no family history of hypertension). All individuals have been evaluated in terms of blood pressure and biochemical parameters. The levels of VEGF and Tie-2 receptor have been evaluated by using The enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) method. Results: The findings suggested that the serum VEGF, soluble Tie-2 receptor, LDL and trigliserid levels in the hypertensive patients were significantly higher than in the controls (p < 0.05). However, the level of HDL-cholesterol in the patients was significantly lower than in the controls (p < 0.05). In correlation analysis, a positive correlation was found statistically significant between the values of VEGF and sTie-2 (r = 0.405, p = 0.026). Conclusion: As a result of this study, our data indicate that serum levels of VEGF and Tie-2 receptor may be related to the primer hypertension. This study could inspire to further studies to explore the roles of VEGF and Tie-2 receptor in essential hypertension.