1020-2

Long Pentraxin 3 Is More Specific Than C-Reactive Protein as a Marker for Vascular Inflammation

Monday, Mar 26, 2007, 3:30 PM - 4:30 PM

08. Vascular Biology/Atherosclerosis/Thrombosis/Endothelium

Taro Shiga, Koji Maemura, Yasushi Imai, Daiji Kawanami, Norihiko Takeda, Jiro Ando, Toshihiro Morita, Ichiro Manabe, Dobun Hayashi, Hiroshi Ohtsu, Akira Sugiyama, Kyoko Miyamoto, Mina Sagara, Yukio Ito, Tsutomu Yamazaki, Yasunobu Hirata, Tatsuhiko Kodama, Ryozo Nagai, Graduate School of Medicine, University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan

Unstable angina,Atherosclerosis,Risk factors,Vascular biology

Evaluate early phase of unstable angina by assessment of plasma PTX3 level.

Learn about a novel vascular inflammation marker in addition to CRP.

Background: C-reactive protein (CRP) is an established marker to predict cardiovascular events. The long pentraxin 3 (PTX3) shares structural homology with CRP and is produced abundantly by vascular endothelial cells and macrophages while CRP is mainly produced in the liver. Thus PTX3 is expected to be a more specific marker for cardiovascular inflammation.
Methods and Results: We established a high sensitivity assay method for PTX3, and examined plasma PTX3 and serum CRP levels in 269 consecutive patients who underwent coronary angiography (20 to 89 years old age, 74 % male). The correlation between the concentrations of PTX3 and CRP was not significant (Spearman’s ρ=0.158), suggesting that PTX3 is independent of CRP as a marker for cardiovascular events. Notably, PTX3 levels in patients taking statins or aspirin were lower than those in control patients. Among all enrolled patients, PTX3 but not CRP levels were significantly higher in the acute coronary syndrome (ACS) group than other groups. Only after exclusion of patients with intercurrent diseases that may affect CRP levels, both PTX3 and CRP levels were higher in unstable angina group than stable angina group. However, the analysis by ROC showed PTX3 was superior to CRP for the detection of UAP (Figure). Finally neither PTX3 nor CRP showed any apparent correlation with the number of diseased vessels.
Conclusions: Plasma PTX3 levels were elevated in UAP patients. PTX3 may reflect active inflammation that leads to plaque rupture more specifically than CRP.