Abstract Body: Introduction: Damage to the heart, kidneys, and blood vessels caused by hypertension shows up well before clinical symptoms. New methods identified special proteins in blood that indicate such damage. However, there is no extensive review finding proteomic markers of organ damage in hypertension. We reviewed studies that connect proteomic markers to target organ damage in hypertension.
Hypothesis: Changes in the hypertensive target organs follow a timed sequence of proteomic events and are divided into three parts: an early inflammatory phase with raised levels of cytokines and complement proteins, a remodelling phase marked by matrix metalloproteinases and collagen, and a final phase when the damaged organs show their unique proteins—each phase has a strong (85%) ability to predict the next phase.
Methods: We followed the PRISMA approach, searching for explored connections between proteomic biomarkers and damage to organs in hypertensive adults. The literature search included 12 studies, all controlled through observational methods, with no randomized studies. Relevant data for the target protein markers and their relationships to organ damage (heart, kidneys, brain, etc.) were also collected. All the studies were observed, we assessed their quality using the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale.
Results: Different studies showed hypertensive patients with organ damage have higher levels of multiple protein markers than those without damage. In particular, fibrosis and inflammation markers linked to proteins were found in patients with heart and kidney injury caused by hypertension. Some proteins in the novel group predicted the development of organ damage over time. Proteins found in different studies were varied, probably due to differences in techniques and populations, but everyone reported common inflammatory and rebuilding pathways. Study quality was moderate, as most papers had small sample sizes and did not account for third-party validation.
Conclusions: This paper addresses a research gap by grouping proteins that may predict target organ damage in hypertensive patients. Several proteins involved in fibrosis and inflammation are often implicated in hypertensive organ damage, suggesting these proteins could be early warnings of future heart and kidney disease. Fusing separate studies on biomarkers, the findings highlight the most promising ones. After testing in extensive groups, these markers could improve how we handle and predict organ problems in hypertension.