Background: Recently pathogenic role of T cell in hypertension development are well documented in animal study. However, it is not well known the existence and the characteristics of T cell driven inflammation in human hypertension. We hypothesized that circulating levels of T cell specific chemokines are increased in hypertensive patients and their receptors are selectively expressed in specific T cell subset. Methods: We measured circulating levels of T cell specific chemokines (MIG, IP-10 and I-TAC) in 71 hypertensive patients (51.6짹11.2 yrs, M:F=35:36) and in age, sex-matched 71 control subjects (51.5짹12.2 yrs, M:F=35:36) by cytometry bead array method. In addition, we analyzed the expression level of CXCR3 in peripheral blood mononuclear cells of hypertensive patients and control subjects using multicolor flow cytometry. Results: Circulating levels of T cell specific chemokine were significantly higher in patients with hypertension than in control subjects (MIG: 501.9짹335.7 pg/mL vs. 125.8짹130.0 pg/mL, p<0.0001; IP-10: 281.9짹103.2 pg/mL vs. 105.8짹58.4 pg/mL, p<0.0001; I-TAC: 35.4짹21.1 pg/mL vs. 11.2짹9.1 pg/mL, p<0.0001). Among T cell chemokines, serum MIG levels correlated with age (p=0.002), creatinine (p=0.009) and associated with echocardiographic LVH (p=0.035) in hypertensive patients. CXCR3 were mainly expressed in CD8 T cell subset, which co-expresses CX3CR1 as well. Conclusions: Increased level of T cell specific chemokines revealed the existence of T cell driven inflammation in human hypertension. Selective expression of CXCR3 in CD8 T cell subset suggests its potential pathogenic role. More detailed characterization of T cell driven inflammation may offer new opportunities for the prevention and treatment of human hypertension.