RETHINKING CARDIOVASCULAR THERAPY - THE EFFECT OF IRBESARTAN ON CIRCULATING MICROPARTICLES AND ENDOTHELIAL PROGENITOR CELLS IN PATIENTS WITH HYPERTENSION AND DYSLIPIDEMIA

Endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) and circulating microparticles (MPs) have been proposed as markers of endothelial function. In turn, the protective role of irbesartan, an angiotensin receptor blocker, on the endothelium has been demonstrated in the recent years but the mechanism has not been yet fully elucidated. In this context, we investigated whether irbesartan can influence these two new biomarkers in patients with cardiovascular (CV) risk factors. We compared the levels of EPCs and MPs in patients with hypertension and dyslipidemia which received irbesartan with the levels in patients with the same CV risk factors but receiving other antihypertensive drugs and in healthy individuals. Using this methodology we showed the positive effect of angiotensin receptor blockade on the two proposed markers of endothelial function, reflecting both endothelial injury and repair, MPs and EPC respectively, in the same subjects with cardiovascular risk factors. Moreover, we found that patients with hypertension and dyslipidemia display an altered balance between the levels of endothelial regenerative cells like EPCs and markers of endothelial injury like circulating MPs.