{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,30]],"date-time":"2026-07-30T14:47:38Z","timestamp":1785422858901,"version":"3.56.0"},"reference-count":43,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"14","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,16]],"date-time":"2026-07-16T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1784160000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100004166","name":"Medical University of Warsaw","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["statutory funding 2025"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["statutory funding 2025"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100004166","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"award":["statutory funding 2025"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["statutory funding 2025"]}],"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/04p2y4s44","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["IJMS"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA)-induced hypoxia modulates inflammatory mediators associated with atherosclerosis and cardiovascular diseases. ICAM-1, VCAM-1, TNF-\u03b1 and IL-6 are involved in atherogenesis, but their expression in the aortic walls of OSA patients remains unknown. This study aimed to determine the relationship between OSA severity and inflammatory markers expression in aortic tissue from patients undergoing coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG). This study included 46 patients who underwent CABG. OSA severity was assessed using the WatchPAT\u2122 home sleep apnea test, classifying patients into control and mild (0 &lt; AHI &lt; 15) and moderate-to-severe (AHI \u2265 15) OSA groups. Aortic wall samples were collected intraoperatively, and ICAM-1, VCAM-1, TNF-\u03b1 and IL-6 expression was evaluated using immunohistochemistry. Statistical analysis compared protein expression across OSA severity groups. Compared with control and mild OSA, in aorta of the moderate-to-severe OSA group, significant differences for ICAM-1 (p = 0.001) and VCAM-1 (p = 0.006) expression were demonstrated. This study provides novel evidence of significantly increased ICAM-1 and VCAM-1 expression in the aortic walls of patients with moderate-to-severe OSA. No statistically significant differences were observed for TNF-\u03b1 and IL-6. Our findings offer a rationale for integrating vascular inflammation markers into cardiovascular risk stratification in OSA. They also support the concept of OSA as a systemic inflammatory disorder, with tangible effects on large-vessel morphology.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/ijms27146333","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,17]],"date-time":"2026-07-17T03:12:38Z","timestamp":1784257958000},"page":"6333","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Expression of Inflammatory Markers in Ascending Thoracic Aorta in Patients with Obstructive Sleep Apnea"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"27","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-3211-0947","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Wioletta","family":"Olejarz","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Biochemistry and Pharmacogenomics, Faculty of Pharmacy, Medical University of Warsaw, 02-091 Warsaw, Poland"},{"name":"Centre for Preclinical Research, Medical University of Warsaw, 02-097 Warsaw, Poland"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-4301-1239","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Ewa","family":"Migacz","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, Medical University of Warsaw, 02-091 Warsaw, Poland"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-8907-8343","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Andrzej","family":"\u0141o\u015b","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Cardiac and Vascular Surgery, Medical University of Gdansk, 80-214 Gdansk, Poland"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Katarzyna","family":"Bednarek-Rajewska","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Clinical Pathology, Poznan University of Medical Sciences, 60-355 Poznan, Poland"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-7008-114X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Andrzej","family":"Kluk","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Clinical Pathology, Poznan University of Medical Sciences, 60-355 Poznan, Poland"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-2107-3810","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Anna M.","family":"Czarnecka","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Outpatient Chemotherapy, Maria Sklodowska\u2014Curie National Research Institute of Oncology, 02-781 Warsaw, Poland"},{"name":"Department of Experimental Pharmacology, Mossakowski Research Institute, Polish Academy of Sciences, 02-106 Warsaw, Poland"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-2982-4412","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Wojciech","family":"Kukwa","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, Medical University of Warsaw, 02-091 Warsaw, Poland"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,16]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1118","DOI":"10.1161\/CIRCRESAHA.118.313816","article-title":"Atherosclerosis","volume":"123","author":"Kobiyama","year":"2018","journal-title":"Circ. 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