CD40 ligand and risk of ischemic stroke or coronary events in patients with chronic coronary heart disease.
BACKGROUND
CD40 ligand (CD40L) is a trimeric, transmembrane protein of the tumor necrosis factor family and together with its receptor CD40 is an important contributor to the inflammatory processes that lead to atherosclerosis, plaque destabilization, and thrombosis.


METHODS
In order to assess the association between serum concentrations of CD40 ligand (CD40L) and risk of future ischemic stroke and coronary events among patients with chronic CHD, we obtained baseline serum samples from patients (n = 3090) with chronic CHD enrolled in a secondary prevention trial. With a prospective nested case-control design, we measured baseline CD40L concentration in sera of patients who subsequently developed myocardial infarction, sudden cardiac death or ischemic stroke during follow-up (cases, n = 233) and in 233 age- and gender-matched pairs without any subsequent cardiovascular events.


RESULTS
Relative odds for recurrent cardiovascular events per one natural log unit difference of CD40L were 0.97 (95%CI, 0.82-1.16). No increase in relative odds for recurrent cardiovascular events was observed per increasing quartiles of CD40L concentrations. In analysis for individual end-points, different trends of risks were observed beyond the 95 percentile for ischemic stroke (OR 2.22; 95%CI, 0.46-12.5) and for recurrent coronary events (OR 0.35; 95%CI, 0.07-1.37), but falling short of statistical significance.


CONCLUSIONS
High serum concentrations of CD40L were not associated with increased risk of ischemic stroke or coronary events in patients with chronic coronary heart disease.
Tanne
David
D
Stroke Center, Department of Neurology, Chaim Sheba Medical Center, Tel-Hashomer 52621, Israel. tanne@post.tau.ac.il
Haim
Moti
M
Goldbourt
Uri
U
Boyko
Valentina
V
Reshef
Tamar
T
Adler
Yehuda
Y
Benderly
Michal
M
Mekori
Yoseph A
YA
Behar
Solomon
S
D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood; D023201:CD40 Ligand / Q000097:blood*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002908:Chronic Disease; D003327:Coronary Disease / Q000097:blood*; D016757:Death, Sudden, Cardiac / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007557:Israel / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D016555:Matched-Pair Analysis; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D009203:Myocardial Infarction / Q000097:blood / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012008:Recurrence; D012306:Risk; D020521:Stroke / Q000097:blood / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000517:prevention & control*
D015415:Biomarkers; D023201:CD40 Ligand