Vascular compliance in the cardiometabolic syndrome

Associations of serum uric acid levels with arterial wave reflections and central systolic blood pressure

BACKGROUND

Uric acid may be involved in the pathogenesis of hypertension. We investigated the roles of four major hemodynamic parameters of blood pressure, including arterial stiffness, wave reflections, cardiac output (CO), and total peripheral resistance (TPR), in the association between uric acid and central systolic blood pressure (SBP-c).

METHODS

A sample of 1303 normotensive and untreated hypertensive Taiwanese participants (595 women, aged 30-79 years) was drawn from a community-based survey. Study subjects' baseline characteristics, biochemical parameters, carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity (cf-PWV), amplitude of the backward pressure wave decomposed from a calibrated tonometry-derived carotid pressure waveform (Pb), CO, TPR, and SBP-c were analyzed.

RESULTS

In multi-variate analyses adjusted for age, waist circumference, body mass index, creatinine, total cholesterol, smoking, and heart rate, uric acid significantly correlated with Pb and cf-PWV in men, and Pb and TPR in women. The correlation between uric acid and Pb remained significant in men and women when cf-PWV was further adjusted. In the final multi-variate prediction model (model r(2)=0.839) for SBP-c, the significant independent variables included uric acid (partial r(2)=0.005), Pb (partial r(2)=0.651), cf-PWV (partial r(2)=0.005), CO (partial r(2)=0.062), TPR (partial r(2)=0.021), with adjustment for age, sex, waist circumference, body mass index, creatinine, total cholesterol, smoking, and heart rate.

CONCLUSIONS

Uric acid was significantly independently associated with wave reflections, which is the dominant determinant of SBP-c. Uric acid was also significantly associated with SBP-c independently of the major hemodynamic parameters.

Calyculin A reveals serine/threonine phosphatase protein phosphatase 1 as a regulatory nodal point in canonical signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 signaling of human microvascular endothelial cells

Vascular inflammation is initiated by stimuli acting on endothelial cells. A clinical feature of vascular inflammation is increased circulating interleukin 6 (IL-6) type cytokines such as leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF), but their role in vascular inflammation is not fully defined. IL-6 type cytokines activate transcription factor signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3), which has a key role in inflammation and the innate immune response. Canonical STAT3 gene induction is due to phosphorylation of (1) Y705, leading to STAT3 dimerization and DNA binding and (2) S727, enhancing homodimerization and DNA binding by recruiting p300/CBP. We asked whether enhancing S727 STAT3 phosphorylation using the protein phosphatase 1 (PP1) inhibitor, calyculin A, would enhance LIF-induced gene expression in human microvascular endothelial cells (HMEC-1). Cotreatment with calyculin A and LIF markedly increased STAT3 S727 phosphorylation, without affecting the increase in the nuclear fraction of STAT3 phosphorylated on Y705. PP2A inhibitors, okadaic acid and fostriecin, did not enhance STAT3 S727 phosphorylation. Surprisingly, calyculin A eliminated LIF-induced gene expression: (1) calyculin A reduced binding of nuclear extracts to a STAT3 consensus site, thereby reducing the overall level of binding observed with LIF; and (2) calyculin A caused p300/CBP phosphorylation, thus resulting in reduced acetylation activity and degradation. Together, these findings reveal a pivotal role of a protein serine/threonine phosphatases that is likely PP1 in HMEC in controlling STAT3 transcriptional activity.