title: Cardiovascular determinants and prognostic significance of CC Chemokine Ligand-18 (CCL18/PARC) in patients with stable coronary artery disease.
abstract: Chemokines are important mediators of angiogenesis, hematopoiesis and leucocyte trafficking. CC Chemokine Ligand-18 (CCL18)/ pulmonary and activation-regulated chemokine (PARC) is a circulating chemokine that plays a role in injury healing, physiological homing of mononuclear blood cells and inflammatory responses. CCL18/PARC is also expressed in atherosclerotic plaques. We prospectively evaluated CCL18/PARC levels and their cardiovascular and biological determinants in a large cohort of 285 patients with stable coronary heart disease who were subsequently followed for 3 years for hard cardiac events. It was found that CCL18/PARC levels were associated with decreased cardiac function, decreased exercise capacity and increased inflammatory parameters including interleukin-6 (IL-6) and hs-CRP. More importantly high CCL18/PARC levels were an independent predictor of future cardiovascular events. Therefore, CCL18/PARC is a potential diagnostic and prognostic parameter in patients with stable coronary artery disease.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, AZ Maria Middelares Gent, Belgium. johan.desutter@Ugent.be
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: De Sutter
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Struyf
authors.forename: N R
authors.initials: NR
authors.lastname: Van de Veire
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Philippé
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: De Buyzere
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Van Damme
mesh_terms: D019742:Chemokines, CC / Q000097:blood*; D003324:Coronary Artery Disease / Q000097:blood* / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology; D006801:Humans; D053208:Kaplan-Meier Estimate; D007677:Kidney Function Tests; D011379:Prognosis; D016896:Treatment Outcome
chemical_list: C111792:CCL18 protein, human; D019742:Chemokines, CC