Chronic inflammatory status in patients with coronary artery ectasia.
BACKGROUND
Coronary artery ectasia (CAE) is well-recognized, angiographic finding of abnormal coronary dilatation. The role of inflammation in atherosclerosis is increasingly well known. However, the association between inflammation and CAE has been controversial.


METHODS
Fifty-five patients with CAE and non-obstructive coronary artery disease (CAD), 38 with obstructive CAD, and 33 angiographically normal coronary controls were enrolled in the study. The peripheral blood was taken, and white blood cell count (WBCC) as well as other leukocyte subtypes including neutrophils, lymphocytes, and monocyte cell count (MCC) were measured. The plasma levels of C-reactive protein (CRP) and interleukin-6 (IL-6) were determined by ELISA.


RESULTS
The higher number of WBCC, neutrophil and MCC were found in patients with CAE compared with obstructive CAD patients as well as normal controls (p<0.01, respectively). Moreover, levels of plasma CRP and IL-6 were also significantly higher in patients with CAE than that in patients with obstructive CAD, and subjects without coronary artery disease (p<0.001, respectively). Univariate analysis showed that the sex, current smoking, numbers of WBCC, neutrophil, MCC, levels of CRP and IL-6 were related with CAE, while MCC was independently linked with a diagnosis of CAE. CRP was the independent variable most strongly associated with CAE by multivariate analysis.


CONCLUSIONS
Taken together, this study confirmed and expanded previous limited findings that a more significant chronic inflammation might be linked with the pathogenesis of CAE that was associated with not only inflammatory markers but also inflammatory cells in patients with CAE.
Li
Jian-Jun
JJ
Department of Cardiology, Fu Wai Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Peking Union Medical College, Beijing 100037, PR China. lijnjn@yahoo.com.cn
Nie
Shao-Ping
SP
Qian
Xue-Wen
XW
Zeng
He-Song
HS
Zhang
Chao-Yang
CY
D000328:Adult; D000792:Angiography / Q000379:methods; D002097:C-Reactive Protein / Q000378:metabolism; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D017023:Coronary Angiography / Q000379:methods; D003324:Coronary Artery Disease / Q000097:blood* / Q000473:pathology; D004108:Dilatation, Pathologic / Q000097:blood* / Q000473:pathology; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007249:Inflammation / Q000097:blood*; D015850:Interleukin-6 / Q000378:metabolism; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D009504:Neutrophils / Q000378:metabolism
D015850:Interleukin-6; D002097:C-Reactive Protein