Syndecan 4 is a marker of endothelial inflammation in pathological aging and predicts long-term cardiovascular outcomes in type 2 diabetes.

Background: Endothelial cellular senescence is emerging as a key mechanism of age-related vascular dysfunction. Disruption of the endothelium glycocalyx and shedding of the syndecan (SDC) ectodomains have been associated with several age-related diseases. Although SDC4 is highly expressed in endothelial cells, its levels and shedding in senescent endothelial cells and vascular endothelial dysfunction associated with aging are still unknown.

Methods: To assess whether SDC4 expression was affected by inflammatory conditions, we evaluated its levels in young human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) treated with TNF-α at a concentration of 50 ng/mL for 24 h and in cells undergoing replicative senescence. Plasma levels of SDC4 were evaluated in two previously recruited cohorts of (i) subjects with type 2 diabetes (T2D, n = 110) followed for a median of 16.8 years and age- and gender-matched healthy subjects (n = 100), and (ii) middle-aged subjects with mild-to-moderate dyslipidemia. Binomial logistic regression was used to assess whether SDC4 levels could be prognostic for major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE).

Results: In the in vitro study, we showed that HUVECs, when exposed to TNF-α or undergoing replicative senescence, exhibited elevated expression levels of SDC4 and matrix metallopeptidase 9 (MMP-9), as well as increased shedding of SDC4 into the extracellular microenvironment, in comparison to actively proliferating young HUVECs. Analysis of human samples revealed that patients with T2D without complications exhibited higher SDC4 levels compared to healthy controls and those with T2D vascular complications. In particular, patients with a history of major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE) had lower SDC4 levels. The longitudinal evaluation revealed that higher SDC4 levels predict the onset of new MACE during a 16.8-year follow-up. In the second cohort, no significant association was observed between SDC4 and endothelial dysfunction, assessed by flow-mediated dilation (FMD) or nitric oxide metabolites. SDC4 levels correlated positively with C-reactive protein (CRP) in both cohorts and with PAI-1 in the cohort of patients with T2D.

Conclusion: Overall, we conclude that the shedding of SDC4 from endothelial cells increases under acute (TNF-α treatment) and chronic (senescence) inflammatory conditions and that increased circulating SDC4 levels are associated with systemic inflammation in pathological aging.