Table 1.

Evidence supporting a role for immune system activation in human hypertension	Reference(s)
Restoration of T cell counts in patients with HIV increases the prevalence of hypertension	77
Anti-kidney antibodies are present in the sera of hypertensive patients	6
Immunosuppressive therapy lowers blood pressure in hypertensive patients	22, 23
Proinflammatory cytokines/mediators positively correlate with blood pressure	10, 11, 18, 78, 79
Circulating CD8+ T cells are increased in hypertensive patients	79
Renal lymphocyte infiltration is increased in patients with hypertension	80, 81
Circulating heat shock proteins, known immune modulators, are increased in hypertensive patients	82, 83
Circulating autoantibodies are increased in patients with essential hypertension, refractory hypertension, and preeclampsia	57–60, 63, 84
Immunoadsorption of pathogenic autoantibodies lowers blood pressure in hypertensive patients	60
The prevalence of hypertension is increased in patients with immune-mediated diseases (i.e., systemic lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis, scleroderma).	46, 49, 85, 86