Effect of vasodilator and immunosuppressive therapy on the endothelial dysfunction in patients with systemic sclerosis

A comparative analysis of flow-mediated vasodilation (FMD), vasoactive angiogenic, and fibrogenic mediators between treatment-naive and treated systemic sclerosis (SSc) patients is an unmet need. (1)To assess the FMD and different pathogenic mediators in SSc patients about endothelial dysfunction. (2) To assess the proportion of circulating endothelial cells (CECs) in treatment-naive patients. SSc patients were grouped into treatment-naive (Group-I, n = 24) on vasodilator (Group-II, n = 10), on vasodilator + immunosuppressive (Group-III, n = 22)]. Age-sex matched healthy controls (n = 20) were included. Endothelial dysfunction (ED) was measured radiologically using FMD. Serum levels of NO, ET1, NO/ET1, sVCAM, sICAM, TGF, IL-6, and VEGF, as well as gene expressions of eNOS, iNOS, ET-1, and TGF, were measured to assess the status of ED in various study groups. CEC was measured in Group-I and HC. CEC was used as a marker to identify a key regulator of ED in SSc. FMD was significantly decreased in all SSc patients through receiving treatment. Upregulation of serum NO and ET concentrations was noted post-treatment with an unaltered NO/ET1 ratio. NO was positively correlated with FMD (r = 0.6) and negatively with TGF beta (r = - 0.5). ET-1 showed a negative correlation with TGF beta (r = - 0.5) but no significant correlation with FMD. Circulating endothelial cell (CEC) was significantly higher in Group-I (3.2%) than HC (0.8%) (p = 0.002), and it showed a good correlation with NO (r = - 0.7, p = 0.0001) and NO/ET1 (r = - 0.6, p = 0.007). Persistent ED was observed in all SSc patients irrespective of treatment. Dysbalance in NO/ET1 ratio might be the considering factor for the underlying progression of ED. Based on our findings, it may be hypothesized that reduced NO may be a contributing factor in the pathogenesis of endothelial dysfunction in SSc.