Introduction & Aim: Hypertension is the most prevalent cause of CV disease worldwide, leading to increased risk of stroke, coronary artery disease, heart failure and chronic kidney disease. Among the hypertensive population growing numbers of patients are recognized to have secondary Hypertension, i.e. due to specific and mostly treatable conditions leading to a rise in blood pressure, as opposed to essential hypertension, which is multifactorial and more complex in its pathophysiology.

Two etiologies that are currently being diagnosed more frequently are PA and OSA, which both lead to increased CV risk, also when stratified according to BP levels with essential hypertensive patients. Part of this may be due to an enhanced dysregulation of the immune system that has been observed in both conditions. Our Aim is to analyze immune function, hypoxia pathways and clock genes expression in this population.

Materials and Methods: We’ll perform deep Immunophenotyping on patients affected by PA, with or without OSA as screened by Home Sleep Apnea Testing, along with analysis by qPCR of clock genes and Hypoxia related HIF-1alfa pathway. The control population will be matched according to sex, BMI and blood pressure levels

Discussion: Many clinical trials are currently trying to target the immune dysregulation in patients affected by hypertension to minimize CV disease, with various results. Our work will provide further insights on the alterations in these populations.