title: Procalcitonin, c-reactive protein and neopterin levels in patients with coronary atherosclerosis.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Recent studies demonstrate that the serum inflammatory markers increase in patients with atherosclerosis. We aimed to assess whether a difference exists between patients with acute coronary syndrome and patients with stable angina pectoris in respect to serum neopterin, procalcitonin (PCT) and C-reactive protein (CRP) levels.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 52 patients (42 male, 10 female) who had atherosclerosis confirmed by angiography and were being followed up for an acute coronary syndrome were recruited and for control group, 45 patients with stable angina pectoris (SA) (35 male and 10 female) who underwent coronary angiography, were examined. Serum concentrations of neopterin, CRP and PCT in the study group (acute coronary syndrome) were compared to control group (stable angina pectoris). The mean neopterin level of the study group was 22.47 +/- 2.93 nmol/l, the mean CRP level was 30.40 +/- 8.05 mg/l and the mean PCT level was 0.40 +/- 0.04 ng/ml. In control group these levels were 12.26 +/- 0.61 nmol/l (p < 0.05), 5.26 +/- 0.64 mg/l (p < 0.001) and 0.19 +/- 0.02 ng/ml (p < 0.001), respectively.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In the presented study our results showed that these markers can be useful for the assessment of inflammation related to atherosclerosis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Immunology, Firat University, Medical Faculty Elazig, Turkey. fulhan23@yahoo.com
authors.forename: Fulya
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Ilhan
authors.forename: Handan
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Akbulut
authors.forename: Ilgm
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Karaca
authors.forename: Ahmet
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Godekmerdan
authors.forename: Erdogan
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Ilkay
authors.forename: Vedat
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Bulut
mesh_terms: D000787:Angina Pectoris / Q000097:blood; D002097:C-Reactive Protein / Q000032:analysis*; D002116:Calcitonin / Q000097:blood*; D015740:Calcitonin Gene-Related Peptide; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D003324:Coronary Artery Disease / Q000097:blood*; D005260:Female; D006023:Glycoproteins / Q000032:analysis*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D019798:Neopterin / Q000097:blood*; D011498:Protein Precursors / Q000097:blood*
chemical_list: C000606589:CALCA protein, human; D006023:Glycoproteins; D011498:Protein Precursors; D019798:Neopterin; D002116:Calcitonin; D002097:C-Reactive Protein; D015740:Calcitonin Gene-Related Peptide