Context
Hypertension, also known as high blood pressure, is one of the leading causes of global cardiovascular mortality and is particularly common among the African American population. If left untreated, high blood pressure can lead to several pathologic changes in the cardiovascular system. These adaptive changes include left ventricular hypertrophy – a thickening of the heart’s left pumping chamber which may decrease pumping efficiency – and fibrosis – a pathological wound process in which collagen fibers form connective tissue that progressively starts replacing normal tissue, resulting in the apparition of scar tissue which can interfere with the normal function of the heart and blood vessels. Angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEi) are a key component of the recommended treatment for hypertensive African Americans. It has been reported that compared to angiotensin receptor blockers (ARB), angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEi) may have an additional protective effect against heart attacks [1]. This might be explained by the fact that ACEi promote the release of Ac-SDKP (N-acetyl-seryl-aspartyl-lysyl-prolin), an anti-fibrotic marker that can block the formation of scar tissue by inducing the release of collagen fibers [2].
The objective of this clinical trial was to evaluate the impact of ACEi on anti-fibrotic biomarkers in African American hypertensive patients with left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH). The Bertin Bioreagent Ac-SDKP ELISA kit (Bertin Bioreagent, Montigny-le-Bretonneux, France) was used to measure the level of the anti-fibrotic marker Ac-SDKP in human serum samples.
