@article{oai:nagasaki-u.repo.nii.ac.jp:00001055,
 author = {Shimizu, Yuji and Sato, Shimpei and Koyamatsu, Jun and Yamanashi, Hirotomo and Nagayoshi, Mako and Kawashiri, Shin-Ya and Inoue, Keita and Fukui, Shoichi and Kondo, Hideaki and Nakamichi, Seiko and Nagata, Yasuhiro and Maeda, Takahiro},
 journal = {Environmental Health and Preventive Medicine},
 month = {May},
 note = {Hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) may act as a possible biochemical index for vascular damage, although evidence for the association between HGF and carotid intima-media thickness (CIMT) is limited. Since both HGF and circulating CD34-positive cells play an important role in endothelial repair, circulating CD34-positive cell levels may influence the association between HGF and CIMT. Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study of 269 elderly Japanese men aged 60-69 years who had undertaken an annual medical checkup from 2014 to 2015. Results: The median value for circulating CD34-positive cells was 0.93 cells/μL. Among the study population, 135 men showed low circulating CD34-positive cell levels (? 0.93 cells/μL). By multivariable linear regression analysis, HGF was found to be significantly positively associated with CIMT only to participants with low circulating CD34-positive cell levels, with a multi-adjusted β of 0.26 (p = 0.005) and 0.002 (0.986) for low and high circulating CD34-positive cell levels, respectively. In addition, a significant interaction was observed between HGF and circulating CD34-positive cell levels (low and high) on CIMT (multivariable p value of 0.049). A positive association exists between HGF and CIMT in elderly Japanese men, limited to participants with low circulating CD34-positive cell levels. Conclusion: A positive association exists between HGF and CIMT in community-dwelling elderly Japanese men, which is limited to participants with low numbers of circulating CD34-positive cells. Our findings indicate that circulating CD34-positive cell levels could determine the influence of HGF on CIMT in elderly Japanese men., Environmental Health and Preventive Medicine, 23, 16; 2018},
 title = {Hepatocyte growth factor and carotid intima-media thickness in relation to circulating CD34-positive cell levels},
 volume = {23},
 year = {2018}
}