Plasmacytoid dendritic cell content is associated with plasma aldosterone concentration in patients with primary aldosteronism.

Background: Inflammation plays a pivotal role in blood pressure regulation. Current data reflect the important role of T cells in primary hypertension. The role of dendritic cells (DC) in secondary hypertension- primary aldosteronism (PA) remains unknown. The aim of this study was to quantify peripheral blood T lymphocytes, plasmacytoid dendritic cells (pDCs) and inflammatory markers in individuals with PA comparing to essential hypertension (HTN).

Methods: 39 patients with PA and 15 patients with HTN were enrolled. Clinical data, serum aldosterone concentration, ambulatory blood pressure monitoring (ABPM), echocardiography, and phenotype of peripheral blood cells with the usage of flow cytometry were assessed.

Results: No differences were found in terms of age, sex and BMI between the groups. In both groups, similar levels of systolic and diastolic blood pressure on ABPM were noted. Both PA and HTN were associated with cardiac hypertrophy (LVMI). In comparison with HTN, PA patients had a notably higher percentage of pDC characterized by co-expression of CD123 and CD303. A positive correlation between aldosterone concentration and the percentage of CD123+CD303+ pDC in the PA was observed. The PA group exhibited lower concentrations of RANTES, TNF-α, CD40L, and VEGF compared to the HTN group.

Conclusions: Higher aldosterone concentration was connected with the increased numbers of plasmacytoid pDC.