Associations between the plasma inflammatory markers and plaque morphologies of coronary artery lesions / 中华内科杂志

ABSTRACT

objective To evaluate the vulnerability of coronary artery plaque with coronary angiography(CAG),intravascular ultrasound(IVUS)and the levels of plasma inflammatory markers.Methods 58 consecutive patients with lesion of a single blood vessel demonstrated successfully by CAG were randomly divided into 3 groups based on the angiographic morphology of the the lesionstype Ⅰ lesion group(n=16),type Ⅱ lesion group(n=25),type Ⅲ lesion group(n=17).Meantime,a control group of stable angina(n=17)was established.A subgroup of 28 patients(including 18 acute coonary sysdrome (ACS)patients and 10 stable angina control patients)who underwent IVUS study were analyzed.Then the plasma levels of high sensitivity CRP(hs-CRP),matrix metalloproteinase(MMP,including MMP-2 and MMP-9),CD40 ligand(CD40 L)and pregnancy associated plasma protein-A(PAPP-A)were measured with ELISA.Analyses were performed by statistical package SPSS 11.0.Results The plasma levels of MMP-2,MMP-9 and PAPP-A in typeⅡ lesion group were significantly higher than the other groups(P＜0.05,0.05,0.001,respectively).In type Ⅱ lesion group,linear correlation analysis manifested significantly positive correlation between levels of hs-CRP and MMP-2(r=0.508);MMP-2 and MMP-9,CD40 L,PAPP-A(r=0.647,0.704,0.751,respectively);MMP-9 and CD40L,PAPP-A(r=0.491,0.639,respectively);CD40L and PAPP-A(r=0.896).IVUS subgroup analysis showed that the area of plaques and plaques burden in culprit lesion,the incidence of high-risk plaques,remodeling index(RI)and positive remodeling percentage in ACS patients were significantly greater than those in the control group(P=0.000,0.037,0.028,0.015,0.040,respectively).Compared with the control group,the plasma levels of hs-CRP,MMP-2,MMP-9 and PAPP-A were markedly elevated(P=0.033,0.000,0.000,0.027,respectively).Conclusions CAG and IVUS combined with the study on plasma levels of inflammation mediators were helpful in judging the vulnerability of coronary artery plaques.