Relationship between angiotensin II receptor expression and cardiovascular risk factors in Mexican patients with coronary occlusive disease.

The density of Angiotensin II (Ang) receptors on tissue surfaces is regulated by multiple hormones, cytokines and metabolic factors and is profoundly affected by various pathological conditions, such as age, diet and environmental conditions. The participation of several cardiovascular risk factors in the regulation of Angiotensin II receptor expression has been incompletely studied. We performed an ex-vivo study with human aortic postsurgical specimens to test the hypothesis that Ang AT1 and AT2 receptor expression in human aortic arteries is associated with the presence of cardiovascular risk factors. We included 31 Mexican patients with coronary artery disease. We evaluated Angiotensin II receptor expression by immunostaining and angiotensin converting enzyme insertion/deletion (ACE I/D) polymorphisms by polymerase chain reaction. AT1 and AT2 receptor expression was increased in the aortic segments from the cardiovascular patients compared with control arteries and in patients with the DD genotype. There was a correlation between increased AT1 receptor expression and the number of cardiovascular risk factors present in the patient. Furthermore, reduction of AT1 expression correlated with the number of drug combinations used in the patients. These correlations were not present with respect to AT2 receptor expression. We suggest that increased AT1 receptor expression is associated with the DD genotype. Thus the presence of several cardiovascular risk factors as well as DD genotype, induce AT1 expression increasing the probability to develop coronary occlusive disease.