MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. Matthias Bossard, MD Clinical and Research Fellow Cardiology Division Department of Medicine University Hospital Basel Basel Switzerland MedicalResearch: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr. Bossard: Endothelin-1 (ET-1) and its pleiotropic effects have been implicated in the regulation of vascular and renal physiology as well as inflammation. Moreover, elevated ET-1 levels have been associated with endothelial dysfunction and atherosclerosis. Until now, data on the relationships between ET-1 and individual cardiovascular risk factors were scarce, especially from large-scale population based studies. This may be attributable to the previously used laboratory assays.The emergence of new ET-1 assays has facilitated ET-1 measurement in large populations. Our main findings are that ET-1 levels are independently associated with several individual cardiovascular risk factors an overall cardiovascular risk in a large cohort of young and healthy adults.Specifically, ET-1 levels were significantly associated with systolic blood pressure, current smoking, glomerular filtration rate and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein. (more…)