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(Hypertension. 2006;48:31.)
© 2006 American Heart Association, Inc.

Editorial Commentaries

Impact of T Lymphocytes on Cardiac Remodeling in Hypertension

More Questions Than Answers

From the Division of Molecular Cardiology, Cardiovascular Research Institute, Texas A&M University System Health Science Center, College of Medicine; Scott & White; and Central Texas Veterans Health Care System, Temple, Tex.

Correspondence to George W. Booz, Cardiovascular Research Institute, Texas A&M College of Medicine, 1901 S 1st St, Bldg 205, Temple, TX 76504. E-mail gbooz@medicine.tamhsc.edu

An extract of the first 250 words of the full text is provided, because this article has no abstract.

In their intriguing article appearing in this issue of Hypertension, Yu et al¹ provide evidence for a role of T lymphocytes in modulating cardiac matrix remodeling resulting from hypertension. The investigators compared the impact of comparable N^G-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester (L-NAME)-induced hypertension on cardiac function and matrix composition among 3 strains of mice with widely different T-lymphocyte profiles. They found increased ventricular stiffness, accompanied by enhanced collagen deposition and cross-linking in the strain of mice that were Th2 dominant (BALB/c). In contrast, in mice that were T- (and B-) lymphocyte deficient (C57BL/6 SCID), hypertension resulted in a diminution of collagen content and cross-linking that was generally associated with heart dilation. No changes in ventricular stiffness or collagen were observed in mice that were Th1 dominant (C57BL/6 WT). Because these different responses of the heart to hypertension were observed under pre-existing dissimilar and extreme immune backgrounds, an obvious question is what impact, if any, T lymphocytes have on hypertension-associated cardiac remodeling in more common scenarios. Will it turn out that the well-established neurohormonal input into cardiac remodeling is actually an immunoneurohormal system or only that the neurohormonal component of remodeling is susceptible to modulation by extreme immune conditions? Other than this broad question, several specific questions come to mind from the work of Yu et al.¹

First, how relevant is the use of L-NAME to induce hypertension and cardiac remodeling? Chronic pressure overload of the heart in animal models typically induces changes in the heart . . . [Full Text of this Article]