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Significance of plasma relaxin-2 levels in patients with primary hypertension and type 2 diabetes mellitus

Bedeutung der Plasma-Relaxin-2-Werte bei Patienten mit primärer Hypertonie und Diabetes mellitus Typ 2

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Summary

Background

This study aimed to evaluate plasma relaxin‑2 (RLN-2) levels in patients with arterial hypertension (AH) and their relationships with clinical and laboratory parameters.

Methods

The study involved 106 hypertensive patients, including 55 with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), and 30 control subjects. Plasma RLN-2 levels were measured using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay kit.

Results

RLN-2 levels were reduced in patients with AH compared to healthy volunteers (p < 0.001), and hypertensive patients with T2DM had lower RLN-2 levels than those without impaired glucose metabolism (p < 0.001). RLN‑2 was negatively correlated with systolic blood pressure (SBP) (p < 0.001) and anthropometric parameters such as body mass index (BMI; p = 0.027), neck (p = 0.045) and waist (p = 0.003) circumferences, and waist-to-hip ratio (p = 0.011). RLN‑2 also had inverse associations with uric acid levels (p = 0.019) and lipid profile parameters, particularly triglycerides (p < 0.001) and non-HDL-C/HDL‑C (p < 0.001), and a positive relationship with HDL‑C (p < 0.001). RLN‑2 was negatively associated with glucose (p < 0.001), insulin (p = 0.043), HbA1c (p < 0.001), and HOMA-IR index (p < 0.001). Univariate binary logistic regression identified RLN‑2 as a significant predictor of impaired glucose metabolism (p < 0.001).

Conclusions

Decreased RLN-2 levels in patients with AH and T2DM and established relationships of RLN‑2 with SBP and parameters of glucose metabolism and lipid profile suggest a diagnostic role of RLN‑2 as a biomarker for AH with T2DM.

Zusammenfassung

Hintergrund

Ziel der vorliegenden Studie war es, die Konzentrationen von Plasma-Relaxin‑2 (RLN-2) bei Patienten mit arterieller Hypertonie (AH) und ihre Beziehung zu klinischen und labormedizinischen Parametern zu untersuchen.

Methoden

An der Studie nahmen 106 AH-Patienten teil, davon 55 mit Diabetes mellitus Typ 2 (Typ-2-Diabetes) und 30 Kontrollpersonen. Die Plasmaspiegel von RLN‑2 wurden mit einem Enzymimmunoassay gemessen.

Ergebnisse

Die RLN-2-Werte waren bei AH-Patienten im Vergleich zu gesunden Probanden erniedrigt (p < 0,001), und AH-Patienten mit Typ-2-Diabetes wiesen niedrigere RLN-2-Werte auf als Patienten ohne gestörten Glukosestoffwechsel (p < 0,001). RLN‑2 war negativ korreliert mit dem systolischen Blutdruck (SBP; p < 0,001) und mit anthropometrischen Parametern wie Body-Mass-Index (BMI; p = 0,027), Halsumfang (p = 0,045), Taillenumfang (p = 0,003) und Taille-Hüfte-Verhältnis (p = 0,011). Für RLN‑2 bestand auch ein inverser Zusammenhang mit dem Harnsäurespiegel (p = 0,019) und den Lipidprofilparametern, insbesondere mit Triglyzeriden (p < 0,001) und Nicht-High-Density-Lipoprotein-Cholesterin (Non-HDL-C)/HDL‑C (p < 0,001), außerdem lag eine positive Korrelation mit HDL‑C vor (p < 0,001). RLN‑2 war negativ mit Glukose (p < 0,001), Insulin (p = 0,043), HbA1c (p < 0,001) und dem HOMA-IR-Index (Homeostatic Model Assessment for Insulin Resistance; p < 0,001) assoziiert. In der univariaten binären logistischen Regression erwies sich RLN‑2 als signifikanter Prädiktor für einen gestörten Glukosestoffwechsel (p < 0,001).

Schlussfolgerung

Erniedrigte RLN-2-Werte bei Patienten mit AH und Typ-2-Diabetes und nachgewiesene Beziehungen zwischen RLN‑2 und SBP sowie Parametern des Glukosestoffwechsels und des Lipidprofils deuten auf eine diagnostische Rolle von RLN‑2 als Biomarker für AH mit Typ-2-Diabetes hin.

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Availability of data and material

The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

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  1. Department of General Practice—Family Medicine, Kharkiv National Medical University, Heroiv Kharkova Ave., 275, 61106, Kharkiv, Ukraine

    Olena Pankova & Oleksii Korzh

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Contributions

O. Pankova: conceptualization, design, methodology, project administration, resource, data curation, investigation, formal analysis, visualization, validation, literature search, writing—original draft preparation. O. Korzh: conceptualization, design, methodology, validation, supervision, writing—review and editing. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Olena Pankova.

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O. Pankova and O. Korzh declare that they have no competing interests.

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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants or on human tissue were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1975 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study. The study protocol was approved by the Ethics Committee of the Medical-Sanitary Base of JSC “Kharkiv Tractor Plant” (date of approval: 21 September 2021).

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Pankova, O., Korzh, O. Significance of plasma relaxin-2 levels in patients with primary hypertension and type 2 diabetes mellitus. Wien Med Wochenschr (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10354-024-01035-x

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