Circulating ErbB3/HER3 Levels are Associated with Increased Risk of Hypertension with Overweight: A Cross-Sectional Study

Abstract Background: Hypertension and overweight are both independent risk factors for cardiovascular disease，and being overweight can more likely to develop high blood pressure. Recent research has shown that ErbB3/HER3 played a considerable role in the development of cardiovascular disease. However, ErbB3 levels effects in the hypertensive overweight patients are unknown. This study aimed to assess the association between ErbB3 levels and hypertension with overweight in Chinese population. Methods: 128 Chinese adults aged 33-79 years, both sexes, underwent evaluation of height and weight, blood pressure, biochemical indicators and ErbB3 levels. Plasma ErbB3 levels was assessed by the Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), and body mass index (BMI) was calculated as body weight divided by height squared. Participants were allocated in three groups according to blood pressure and BMI: healthy control group (CNT; n = 31; normotensive and nonoverweight), hypertension group (HT; n = 33; hypertension and nonoverweight) and hypertension with overweight group (HTO; n = 64; hypertension and overweight). A 2-tailed P<0.05 was defined to be statistically significant. Results: The difference in mean of ErbB3 levels in three groups was not significant, but had a linear decrease in males, in CNT (1.13±0.36), HT (1.03±0.36) and HTO (0.84±0.26) ng/ml, with P was 0.007. In drinking population, the ErbB3 was significantly reduced in the HTO group as compared with the CNT and HT groups (0.76±0.23 versus 1.18±0.37 and 1.20±0.30, respectively). ErbB3 levels was negatively correlated with DBP in males(r=-0.293, P=0.012), in smoking populations (r=-0.47, P=0.004) and drinking populations (r=-0.387, P=0.008). Besides, BMI in males and in drinking populations and UA in males presented negatively correlations with ErbB3 (p＜0.05). The multivariate conditional logistic regression showed that plasma ErbB3 levels was associated with reduced risk for HTO in males (OR 0.054; 95% CI: 0.007-0.412) and drink group(OR 0.002; 95% CI: 0.000-0.101). Conclusions：The apparent association between lower ErbB3 levels and overweight hypertensive patients suggested that ErbB3 may contribute to the pathogenesis to hypertension with overweight, with BMI, gender, and drinking all potentially modulating the process. Keywords: ErbB3; Hypertension; Overweight; Body mass index.