Low-grade inflammation plays a role in the pathogenesis of primary hypertension (PH) and target organ damage (TOD). We evaluated the profile of inflammatory mediators (CRP, RANTES, MIP-1beta, MIP-1alpha, MCP-1, IL-6, angiogenin, adiponectin) in 30 healthy children (12.7 +/- 3.3 years) and 44 patients with untreated PH (13.7 +/- 2.7 years; n.s). Patients had greater concentrations of CRP, MIP-1beta, and RANTES than controls (all p < 0.05). Children with metabolic syndrome (MS) had greater CRP than children without MS (p = 0.007) and CRP correlated with number of MS criteria, body mass index (BMI), visceral fat, deep subcutaneous fat assessed by magnetic resonance imaging, carotid intima-media thickness (cIMT), left ventricular mass index, and markers of oxidative stress. RANTES correlated with cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, ApoB, and ApoB/ApoA1. Angiogenin correlated with BMI, waist circumference, visceral fat, uric acid, and patients with cIMT>2SD had greater concentration of angiogenin than those with normal cIMT (p = 0.03). Adiponectin was lower in patients with cIMT>2SD than in those with normal cIMT (p = 0.02). No model explaining variability of TOD has been built. Elevated RANTES and MIP-1beta and normal IL-6 and TNF-alpha levels indicate a vascular inflammatory process. Lack of correlation between CRP and chemokines suggests that vascular inflammation in PH precedes the systemic inflammatory changes.