Correlation of serum PCSK9 in CHD patients with the severity of coronary arterial lesions

S. Wang, Z.-Y. Cheng, Z.-N. Zhao, X.-Q. Quan, Y. Wei, D.-S. Xia, J.-Q. Li, J.-L. Hu

Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, Henan Provincial People’s Hospital, Zhengzhou, China. zhaoyunchengs@163.com

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• Cardiology

OBJECTIVE: The present study aims to investigate the correlation between serum level of proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin type 9 (PCSK9) and the severity of coronary arterial lesion in patients with coronary heart disease (CHD).

PATIENTS AND METHODS: Between August 2010 and January 2015, 126 CHD patients and 70 patients with coronary arterial stenosis < 50% (controls) were included in the present study. Serum PCSK9 level was determined using ELISA. Demographic characteristics, relevant clinical data and biochemical data were collected from all patients, and their relationship with PCSK9 was analyzed to evaluate the correlation of PCSK9 expression with the severity of coronary artery disease (CAD).

RESULTS: Concentrations of total cholesterol (TC) and fasting blood sugar (FBS) were significantly higher in CHD patients than in controls (p < 0.05). No significant differences were observed in gender, age, body mass index (BMI), triglyceride (TG), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), family history, smoking history and history of hypertension between groups (p > 0.05). Serum PCSK9 levels in the CHD group were significantly higher than those in the control group [(96.4 ± 33.2) ng/mL vs. (81.8 ± 27.6) ng/mL, p < 0.05]. Compared with those of patients with single-vessel or double-vessel disease, PCSK9 levels were significantly elevated in patients with multi-vessel disease (p < 0.05). The Gensini score of the CHD group was significantly lower than that of the control group (11.4 ± 10.5 vs. 37.3 ± 10.3, p < 0.05). The Gensini score of patients with multi-vessel disease was significantly higher compared with patients of single-vessel  or double-vessel disease (p < 0.05). Correlation analysis revealed that PCSK9 was positively correlated with many clinical parameters, including age, BMI, TC, TG, systolic blood pressure, FBS, Gensini score and LDL-C (p < 0.05). However, PCSK9 was not correlated with either gender ratio or diastolic blood pressure (p > 0.05).

CONCLUSIONS: Serum PCSK9 level is significantly elevated in CHD patients and its variation is correlated with the severity of CAD.

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