title: Association of high serum concentration of the third component of complement (C3) with pre-existing severe coronary artery disease and new vascular events in women.
abstract: Atherosclerosis is an inflammatory disease. The complement system plays an important role in the atherosclerotic process. However, lesser data is available on the possible role of C3 as a risk factor for atherosclerosis. Therefore, in a follow up study we determined C3 levels in 266 patients with pre-existing severe coronary artery disease (CAD) and compared their serum C3 concentrations with the cause of the disease. We investigated whether C3 levels predict the major complications of severe CAD during a 5-year long follow up period in patients, who have received an aorto-coronary bypass graft surgery. C3 concentrations were elevated in the patients with severe CAD compared to 182 healthy controls, and women had higher C3 concentrations than men. Pathological C3 levels (C3> or =1.8 g/L) were able to predict major complications of atherosclerosis (death by cardiac events, new acute myocardial infarction, stroke, carotid surgery and peripheral arterial disease) that developed during the follow up period only in women (OR: 4.1, 95% C.I. 1.23-13.61, p = 0.0249) independent of other risk factors for atherosclerosis. Our data supports the assumption that high C3 indicates the progression of atherosclerosis as a special marker of chronic inflammation.
authors.affiliation: Third Department of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Semmelweis University, Kútvölgyi út 4 Budapest H-1125, Hungary.
authors.forename: Gábor
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Széplaki
authors.forename: Zoltán
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Prohászka
authors.forename: Jeno
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Duba
authors.forename: Szabolcs
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Rugonfalvi-Kiss
authors.forename: István
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Karádi
authors.forename: Márta
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kókai
authors.forename: Judit
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kramer
authors.forename: George
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Füst
authors.forename: Mónika
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kleiber
authors.forename: László
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Romics
authors.forename: Lilian
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Varga
mesh_terms: D001161:Arteriosclerosis / Q000276:immunology; D003176:Complement C3 / Q000032:analysis*; D001026:Coronary Artery Bypass; D003327:Coronary Disease / Q000150:complications / Q000276:immunology*; D018450:Disease Progression; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D012307:Risk Factors
chemical_list: D003176:Complement C3