Cardiology Letters 2016, 25(6):449-453

Activities of circulating matrix metalloproteinases in patients suffering from heart failure in relation to gender, hypertension and treatment

Radošinská J^{1, 3}, Giannakos E¹, Vardali E², Barteková M^{1, 3}, Fogarassyová M³, Barančík M³

¹ Fyziologický ústav, Lekárska fakulta Univerzita Komenského v Bratislave, Slovenská republika

² Center of Health, Koufalia, Thessaloniki, Grécko

Ústav pre výskum srdca, Slovenská akadémia vied, Bratislava, Slovenská republika

Background: The extracellular matrix is the subject of extensive study due to its dynamic nature and its major role in the development of several diseases. Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) are proteolytic enzymes responsible for the degradation and remodeling of the extracellular matrix. It is also suggested they play an important role in the pathogenesis of heart failure (HF). Our aim was to determine the activities of circulating MMP-2 and MMP-9 in patients with HF in respect of gender, occurrence of hypertension and treatment.

Methods: MMP-2 and MMP-9 activities were determined using gelatin zymography in plasma collected from 51 participants.

Results: We did not discover any overall differences in circulating MMP-2 and MMP-9 activities between the patients with HF and those without it. However, there was a decrease in activity of MMP-2 in treated hypertensive participants versus healthy ones. In contrast, we observed increased MMP-2 activity in hypertensive participants with coexistent HF versus hypertensive participants without HF. In addition, a decrease in MMP-2 activity was shown in women suffering from HF versus men suffering from HF.

Conclusions: A potential inhibitory effect of antihypertensive treatment on MMP-2 activity was found, but coexistent HF with hypertension reduces this inhibitory effect. Our data also suggest the role of potential cardioprotective factors influencing the activity of MMP-2 in women. Since we did not detect any changes in pro-MMP-9 activities among the groups, pro-MMP-2 seems to be a more sensitive parameter reflecting gender and hypertension in HF.

Keywords: matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs); heart failure; hypertension; antihypertensive drugs; gender

Published: June 1, 2016  Show citation