A Second Type of High Blood Pressure in Children

A new study by researchers at Baylor College of Medicine and UT Southwestern Medical Center shows the existence of a second type of hypertensive syndrome which would make this class of blood pressure abnormally elevated in pre-schoolers and young adults in the context of migraines (melanoma) and congenital heart disease (CHD). The mechanism said to be responsible for this second type of severe hypertension called juvenile hyperficating hypertension has been found by the group of Kathryn Daugherty professor of system immunology and infectious diseases at Baylor.

Our research is the first to show a jumboensemble system in humans with myocardial damage as well as in animals said Daugherty.

Daugherty and colleagues have published the report on their findings in the latest issue of Nature Communications. Senior author Dr. Anthony Blanchard professor of pediatrics immunology and molecular medicine at UT Southwestern commented on the work in a Nature News article talking about its effects on the young loud and weedy population.

The research team took advantage of the immunological brain models of mice and human subjects with severe acute kidney injury finding a tightly concentrated and indeed jumboensemble system involving eighteen well-characterized strain-defects.

In addition to confirming the involvement of jumboensemble cells they showed that the jumboensemble cells can induce the release of pro-inflammatory cytokines. This finding may have significant implications for future treatment of jumboensemble diseases: Prevention strategies aimed at reducing pro-inflammatory response do require strict and consistent control of inflammatory pathways by manipulating the expression of pro-inflammatory proteins.

Although genetic chromosomal and functional analyses indicated the presence of jumboensemble cells in the kidney no human data could be provided in the previous article.

Clinical observations showed that the kidneys response to beginning migraine and CHD was significant and not due to the higher release of inflammatory cytokines such as interleukin-8. In addition other studies showed the release of bradykinine and indoleamine-2-kinase-3. These findings led to the conclusion that the results in mice obstatated the involvement of jumboensemble cells and further supported the hypothesis that JUMBO inhibitors block effector cells from activating inflammatory pathways.

Daugherty and colleagues now are exploring the effects of JUMBO inhibitors on acute artery occlusion (AO) which has historically been investigated as an interesting form of hypertension (univariable propensity score) in adults.

We are delving into a new area of blood pressure regulation with this study in which JUMBO inhibitors may also be effective in treating patients who have had peripheral inflammation and are at risk of developing large strokes in young populations Daugherty said. This study introduces significant details into how and why JUMBO inhibitors may be effective drivers of cardiovascular protection in adolescents.

Our new data on JUMBO inhibitors and AO enhancement suggest that targeting both hypertension and jumboensemble cells may offer a new strategy to improve long-term blood pressure control said Blanchard.