Impact of inflammation on vascular disease in hypertension

tLow grade inflammation exerts a crucial pathogenic role in hypertension and cardiovascular disease. Alarge body of evidence indicates that innate and adaptive immune systems, and in particular T cells, areinvolved. A balance between T-effector lymphocytes and Treglymphocytes represents a crucial regula-tory mechanism that, when altered, favours blood pressure elevation and organ damage development.Of note, Treglymphocytes exert important anti-inflammatory properties, whose activities guaranteesvascular homeostasis and protects the vessel wall from the development of atherosclerosis. In humans,most of evidence ascertaining essential hypertension as a condition of chronic low-grade inflammatorystatus revealed a strict and independent association between CRP, TNF-, IL-6 or adhesion molecules andvascular changes in essential hypertensive patients. Evidence of involvement of the immune system invasculature from patients with hypertension or cardiovascular disease starts to appear in literature.Further investigation on immunity, including the role of T-lymphocytes, will help develop of newtherapeutic targets that may improve outcomes in hypertension and cardiovascular disease and discovernovel approaches in the treatment of hypertension and vascular disease