Is Endocan a Biochemical Marker for Asymptomatic Target Organ Damage in Hypertensive Patients?

Abstract

Objective: Identification of the asymptomatic target organ damage (AOD) helps to stratify the overall risk of cardiovascular (CV) diseases and guides a treatment decision in hypertensive patients without a symptomatic CV or renal disease. The endothelial-cell-specific molecule 1 (endocan) is regarded as a novel marker of endothelial dysfunction. Its release is increased in hypertensive patients, especially those with symptomatic CV and renal disease. In the present study, we aimed to evaluate the endocan levels in asymptomatic hypertensive patients with or without AOD. Methods: The study included 132 asymptomatic hypertensive patients, and 101 of who had at least one AOD. Results: Serum endocan levels did not differ between patients with and without AOD (3.81±0.78 vs. 3.83±0.63 ng/mL, p=0.88). An analysis according to the presence of any specific AOD did not show any difference between groups. No significant correlation was found between serum endocan levels and any of the continuous variables related to AOD, such as the pulse pressure, carotid intimae-media thickness, cardio-ankle vascular index, ankle-brachial index, left ventricular mass index, Sokolow–Lyon index, Cornell voltage-duration product, and estimated glomerular filtration rate. Conclusion: Endocan may not serve as a useful biomarker at asymptomatic vascular stages of hypertension, despite its role in indicating disease severity and inflammatory activation in advanced symptomatic CV and renal disease.

From Classic to Modern Prognostic Biomarkers in Patients with Acute Myocardial Infarction

“…It is implicated in numerous processes, such as cell adhesion, migration, neovascularization and proliferation. Its secretion is upregulated by a series of proinflammatory cytokines (TNF-α, interleukin-1β and angiogenic factors, such as vascular endothelial growth factor), suggesting that it plays a key role in inflammation and endothelial dysfunction in various vascular disorders (angiogenesis, atherosclerosis, infections and neoplasms) [ 127 , 128 , 129 ]. It is known that endocan is involved in the pathogenesis of cardiovascular disease, higher levels of it being observed in subjects with coronary slow-flow, hypertension and coronary artery disease [ 130 ].…”

The Role of Endocan in Cardiometabolic Disorders

“…Another cross-sectional study enrolling 67 patients newly diagnosed with essential HTN and 70 healthy controls also documented that endocan levels were significantly higher among hypertensive subjects, and were positively correlated with aortic elastic properties assessed by echocardiography, namely aortic strain and aortic distensibility, also confirming the strong relationship between endocan levels and target-organ damage in HTN [ 56 ]. Of course, some contradictory data also show no association between circulating endocan levels and target-organ damage in a large cohort of 132 asymptomatic hypertensive subjects [ 57 ].…”