Interleukin-18: a strong predictor of the extent of coronary artery disease in patients with unstable angina.
The aim of this study was to confirm that plasma interleukin (IL)-18 level is associated with the extent of coronary artery disease in unstable angina patients. Previous studies have shown that patients with unstable angina have significantly higher plasma IL-18 levels than healthy volunteers. However, the association between IL-18 and the extent of coronary artery atherosclerosis in patients with unstable angina remains unclear. Plasma concentrations of IL-18 and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) were measured in 166 consecutive patients admitted for coronary arteriography. One hundred and eighteen patients with unstable angina had coronary artery disease (coronary artery disease group; severity score: 2.32 +/- 1.47; Gensini score: 31.3 +/- 25.9), and 48 patients with coronary risk factors and without coronary artery lesions served as the risk control group. Plasma levels of IL-18 were higher in the coronary artery disease group than in the risk control group (P = 0.062). Additionally, plasma levels of IL-18 were significantly higher in 77 coronary artery disease patients with severity score > or =2 than in the risk control group (242.3 +/- 110.6 vs 209.8 +/- 120.3 pg/ml, P = 0.016). By univariate analysis, log-transformed plasma IL-18 concentration was positively correlated with coronary artery disease severity score (r = 0.244, P = 0.009). By multiple regression analyses, the association between coronary artery disease severity score and IL-18 remained significant (beta = 0.733, P = 0.017) when controlling for age, diabetes mellitus and left ventricular ejection fraction. Additionally, coronary artery disease severity score was greater in the highest tertile (>246 pg/ml) of plasma IL-18 levels than in the middle (176-246 pg/ml) and the lowest (<176 pg/ml) tertiles (2.79 +/- 1.52 vs 2.05 +/- 1.08 vs 2.13 +/- 1.66, P = 0.028). Of note, plasma hs-CRP level had no significant correlation with coronary artery severity. Plasma IL-18 level is associated with the extent of coronary artery disease in unstable angina patients, suggesting the link between IL-18 and coronary artery atherosclerosis in these patients.[1]References
- Interleukin-18: a strong predictor of the extent of coronary artery disease in patients with unstable angina. Chen, M.C., Chen, C.J., Yang, C.H., Wu, C.J., Fang, C.Y., Hsieh, Y.K., Chang, H.W. Heart. Vessels (2007) [Pubmed]
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