Background: Systemic hypertension is one of the main risk factors for atheroth rombosis. Tissue factor(TF) is found in the adventitia of blood vessels and in t he lipid core of atherosclerotic plaques, and is specifically expressed on monoc yte or macrophage cell membrane surfaces. TF plays a pivotal role in blood clott ing physiology and is involved in pro-inflammatory action and atherosclerotic p laque destabilization. Objective: In this study we investigated whether there is any relationship between TF messenger RNA expression and activity in blood mono cytes isolated from hypertensive patients with clinical signs of atherosclerosis ,uncomplicated hypertensive individuals and normotensive control subjects. Metho ds: Eighty subjects(41 men and 39 women, mean age 41±12 years)with untreated es sential hypertension and 41 control subjects matched for sex and age were enroll ed in the study. Patients were classified according to whether they had a normal (≤1 mm, 41 patients) or abnormal(>1 mm, 39 patients) intima-media thickness(IM T). Results: TF mRNA expression and activity in hypertensive individuals with no carotid atherosclerosis were no different from control subjects in unstimulated and stimulated monocytes. Abnormal IMT patients showed a higher TF mRNA express ion compared with normal IMT hypertensive subjects(P< 0.001). Conclusions: We de monstrated that TF mRNA and activity levels in monocytes obtained from uncomplic ated hypertensive individuals are comparable with those of normotensive subjects , whereas atherosclerotic hypertensive patients showed increased levels of these parameters. Background: Systemic hypertension is one of the main risk factors for atheroth rombosis. Tissue factor (TF) is found in the adventitia of blood vessels and in blood lipid of atherosclerotic plaques, and is specifically expressed on monocyte or macrophage cell membrane surfaces TF plays a pivotal role in blood cling ing physiology and is involved in pro-inflammatory action and atherosclerotic p laque destabilization. Objective: In this study we investigated whether there is any relationship between TF messenger RNA expression and activity in blood mono cytes isolated from hypertensive patients with clinical signs of atherosclerosis, uncomplicated hypertensive individuals and normotensive control subjects. Metho ds: Eighty subjects (41 men and 39 women, mean age 41 ± 12 years) with untreated es sential hypertension and 41 control subjects matched for sex and age were enroll ed in the study. Patients were classified according to whether they had a normal (≤1 mm, 41 patients) or abnorm Results: TF mRNA expression and activity in hypertensive individuals with no carotid atherosclerosis were no different from control subjects in unstimulated and stimulated monocytes. Abnormal IMT patients showed a higher TF mRNA express ion compared with normal IMT hypertensive subjects (P <0.001). Conclusions: We de monstrated that TF mRNA and activity levels in monocytes obtained from uncomplicated hypertensive individuals are comparable with those of normotensive subjects, whereas atherosclerotic hypertensive patients showed increased levels of these parameters.