Associations between measures of vascular structure and function and systemic circulating blood markers in humans.

Examination of relationships between systemic markers and functional measures of arterial structure and function may assist in determining alternative indices of vascular regulation and designing and evaluating interventions to improve arterial structure and function. Twenty young healthy individuals, 20 older healthy men, and 26 individuals with coronary artery disease (CAD), comprising a spectrum of vascular health, participated. Systemic markers of vascular structure and function included: pro-collagen type I C-peptide (PIP) - marker of collagen synthesis, C-telopeptide of type I collagen (CTX) - marker of collagen degradation, endothelin-1 (ET-1) - vasoconstrictor, and interleukin-6 (IL-6) - inflammatory marker.