Respective roles of cortisol, aldosterone and angiotensin II during pathophysiology of atherosclerosis

The involvement of angiotensin II, cortisol and aldosterone in increased cardiovascular risk is well known but their interactions within arterial wall and during atheroma formation are not established. In fact, mild cortisol excess is associated with a higher prevalence of cardiovascular events, increased intima media thickness, a higher frequency of atherosclerotic plaques and increased mortality. Conversely, remission from hypercortisolism is followed by improvement in cardiovascular risk markers as intima-media thickness or arterial distensibility, suggesting a strong link between cortisol excess and adverse vascular remodeling. On the other hand, implication of renin-angiotensin system (RAS) in atheromatous remodeling is well documented. The RAS also includes aldosterone, a mineralocorticoid which secretion is mainly and strongly stimulated by angiotensin II, and which receptor (MR) can also be activated by cortisol given that MR affinity is similar for both aldosterone and cortisol. The role of aldosterone in arterial remodeling is still very controversial. Aldosterone treatment associated with a high salt diet induced not only hypertension but also oxidative stress, collagen synthesis and vascular inflammation. However in models without salt loading or arterial hypertension, such as the treatment with deoxycorticosterone acetate in dogs, no alterations in aortic structure were observed and moreover, the MR blockade with eplerenone did not attenuate atherosclerosis in the aorta of diabetic Apo-E KO mice. It stems that among the different effects and mechanisms described in cell experiments, it is not known which are indeed operating in situ in human vessels and thus, if local cortisol is deleterious or beneficial and, if activation of MR by aldosterone or cortisol is important in vascular remodeling and atherogenesis. RAS blocker treatment would be particularly beneficial in essential hypertensive patients with low plasma renin, to attenuate both angiotensin II and also cortisol up-regulation.