ABSTRACT
Objective To investigate the changes of serum milk fat globule epidermal growth factor 8(MFG-E8) levels in pa-tients with carotid atherosclerosis(CAS) ,and the correlation analysis between MFG-E8 and blood glucose ,blood lipid and inflam-matory factors .Methods From October 2015 to February 2017 ,120 patients with carotid atherosclerosis were selected and divided into control group ,thickening group and plaque group ,40 cases in each group .The levels of blood glucose ,blood lipid ,serum MFG-E8 and other inflammatory factors of the three groups were compared ,and the correlation between serum MFG-E8 and other indica-tors .was analyzed .Results The levels of total cholesterol(TC) ,low-density lipoprotein cholesterol(LDL-C) ,tumor necrosis factor alpha(TNF-α) ,and high sensitive C reactive protein (hs-CRP) in plaque group were significantly higher than those in thickening group and control group ,the difference was statistically significant(P<0 .05);the levels of MFG-E8 and interleukin-10(IL-10) in plaque group were significantly lower than those in thickening group and control group ,the difference was statistically significant (P<0 .05);there was no significant difference in the levels of fasting blood glucose (FPG) ,triglyceride(TG) and high-density lipo-protein cholesterol(HDL-C) between the three groups(P>0 .05) .Serum MFG-E8 was negatively correlated with carotid intima-media thickness ,FPG ,TC ,LDL-C ,TNF-αand hs-CRP(P<0 .05)and positively correlated with TG and IL-10(P<0 .05) ,and there was no correlation between serum MFG-E8 and HDL-C(r=0 .105 ,P=0 .255) .Conclusion Serum MFG-E8 can be used as a new index to assess the severity of CAS and it is worthy of clinical application .