Association between human cartilage glycoprotein 39 (YKL-40) and arterial stiffness in essential hypertension

The relationship between serum levels of YKL-40 and arterial stiffness was evaluated in 93 essential hypertensive subjects and 80 normal subjects. Essential hypertensive subjects were divided into two groups based upon urinary albumin-to-creatinine ratio (ACR): nonmicroalbuminuric group, (ACR <30？mg/g, n？=？50) and microalbuminuric group (ACR ≥30？mg/g, n？=？43). Large artery wall stiffness was assessed by measuring femoral arterial stiffness and carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity (cf-PWV). Serum levels of YKL-40 were determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA).The study demonstrated that YKL-40,cf-PWV and femoral arterial stiffness were increased significantly (P<0.05) in the hypertensive group compared with normal controls. These measurements were also increased significantly ( P<0.05) in the microalbuminuric group compared with the nonmicroalbuminuric group. YKL-40 was positively correlated with cf-PWV( r？=？0.44, P？=？0.000) and femoral arterial stiffness ( r？=？0.42, P =0.001). Multiple linear stepwise regression analysis showed that YKL-40 was the impact factor of arterial stiffness ( P<0.05).YKL-40 levels are elevated in essential hypertension subjects with an independent association between increasing YKL-40 levels and increasing arterial stiffness. The study suggests it played a positive role of YKL-40 in the progressing vascular complications in patients with essential hypertension.