Arterial Stiffness and Pentraxin 3 Levels in Obese Patients

To the Editor: We read the article, “Association of Plasma Pentraxin 3 With Arterial Stiffness in Overweight and Obese Individuals,”1 by Miyaki et al. with great interest. The authors found that arterial stiffness (AS) is increased in overweight and obese individuals and concluded that the increase in AS may be, at least in part, associated with an obesity-related reduction in plasma pentraxin 3 (PTX3) concentrations. AS represents the viscoelastic properties of the vessel wall. AS parameters may be associated with known coronary artery disease, peripheral artery disease, and atherosclerotic risk factors such as hypertension, smoking, hypercholesterolemia, diabetes mellitus, and aging. In addition, we previously demonstrated that AS parameters are increased in inflammatory diseases such as psoriasis and Behçet’s disease.2 Furthermore, some medications, such as angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors, angiotensin receptor blockers, and statins, may influence AS parameters. However, Miyaki et al. did not mention some of these factors. A surprising finding in the Miyaki et al. article is that plasma PTX3 concentrations in normal-weight subjects were significantly higher than those in obese subjects. Many studies have clearly shown that PTX3 is an inflammatory marker and it is elevated in inflammatory conditions such as obesity. In this context, we have recently shown that PTX3 level is increased in newly diagnosed, untreated hypertensive patients.3