AIDS, lupus, rheumatoid arthritis--hypertension?

What have these disease entities in common? There would be little argument among physicians and basic science investigators that an underlying defect in immunologic function is a major contributing factor in the etiology of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, systemic lupus erythematosus, and rheumatoid arthritis. But immunologic dysfunction in hypertension is another matter. Physicians who treat hypertensive patients and researchers involved in the study of hypertension would quickly point to alterations in renal function, enhanced vascular smooth muscle reactivity, increased sympathetic tone or alterations in the renin-angiotensin system as major contributors to the development of hypertension. It would indeed be rare for immune function to be mentioned in discussions of this disease. Perhaps this should be reconsidered in light of the growing body of evidence that implicates altered immunologic function in the development of some forms of hypertension. The article by Tuttle and Boppana that appears in this volume should certainly help to bring the involvement of immune mechanisms in the pathogenesis of spontaneous hypertension in rats into focus.