CD86 and hypertrophy: For echocardiographic parameters, correlation analysis with the myocardium, blood, and peripheral organs for most costimulatory molecules yielded many trends towards and some significantly positive or negative (CD80 and CD86, liver only CD80) correlations with left ventricular function and hypertrophy parameters, supporting the hypothesis of a myocardial and systemic inflammatory reaction going in hand with mild cardiac hypertrophy and preserved heart function at this stage of AS.