Preliminary Study of the Serum Chymase Levels in Patients with Arterial Hypertension

Chymases are proteases stored in the cytoplasmic granules of mast cells. Under the influence of various stimuli, mast cell degranulation occurs and products such as tryptase, chymase and other mediators such as cytokines and chemokines, are released into the surrounding tissues and into the circulation, and promote vascular inflammation. The aim of this study is to investigate the systemic level of chymase among patients with arterial hypertension on a therapy with angiotensin I converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitor. Serum level of chymase was detected among 30 patients with stage 1 essential arterial hypertension (AH) and 10 healthy controls, by commercially available enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) purchased from Cusabio Biotech co, following the manufacturer’s instructions. All hypertensive patients are being treated with Lisinopril and only 63.3% were with controlled hypertension. Serum level of chymase was significantly elevated in patients compared to healthy controls (99.6±159 vs. 9.34±10pg/ml; p=0.0076). However, the chymase levels between patients with controlled and uncontrolled hypertension was similar (95±186 vs. 107±104pg/ml; p=0.85). Increased level of total cholesterol and LDL was established among AH patients with uncontrolled hypertension compared to patients with controlled blood pressure (5.8±0.96 vs 4.5±1.1mmol/l;p=0.004 and 3.14±0.99 vs. 2.4±0.69 mmol/l; p=0.03 respectively). Also, correlation analysis between chymase and total cholesterol, LDL-cholesterol and TG levels was performed. A weak positive correlation between chymase and total cholesterol was observed (R=0.359; p=0.051) in AH group. Our preliminary study demonstrated a significant elevation of serum chymase in AH patients independently of Lisinopril treatment.