title: Plasma S100A8/A9 correlates with blood neutrophil counts, traditional risk factors, and cardiovascular disease in middle-aged healthy individuals.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The S100 alarmins A8, A9, and A8/A9, secreted by activated neutrophils and monocytes/macrophages, are involved in the pathogenesis of various inflammatory diseases. S100A8/A9 has previously been linked to atherogenesis and cardiovascular (CV) disease. We investigated whether S100A8, A9, and A8/A9 correlate with carotid artery disease and CV risk in apparently healthy individuals.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We measured baseline S100A8, A9, and A8/A9 in 664 individuals aged 63 to 68 years, with no previous history of CV disease, randomly selected from the Malmö Diet and Cancer population cohort. We examined the correlations between S100 proteins and circulating cell populations, plasma cytokines, carotid artery disease, and incidence of CV events during a median follow-up period of 16.2 years. We found that plasma S100A8/A9 concentration is positively influenced by circulating neutrophil numbers, smoking, body mass index, glycosylated hemoglobin A1c, and low-density lipoprotein. High-density lipoprotein was negatively associated with S100A8/A9. S100A8/A9 and the neutrophil counts were positively correlated with intima-media area in the common carotid artery, independently of age, sex, and CV risk factors. S100A8/A9 and circulating neutrophils presented similar associations with the incidence of coronary events (hazard ratio [95% confidence interval] per 1 SD: 1.28 [1.03-1.59] and 1.26 [1.04-1.53], respectively) and CV death (1.34 [1.06-1.71] and 1.59 [1.33-1.90], respectively). These relationships were mainly supported by strong associations in women, which were independent of traditional risk factors. There were no independent relationships between S100A8 and S100A9, and CV disease.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our study supports the value of S100A8/A9 as a potentially important link between neutrophils, traditional CV risk factors, and CV disease.
authors.affiliation: From the Department of Cellular and Molecular Biology, University of Medicine and Pharmacy of Tîrgu Mureş, Tîrgu Mureş, Romania (O.S.C.); and Department of Clinical Sciences, Lund University (P.D., N.K., B.H., J.N., H.B., A.S.) and Cardiology Clinic (A.S.), Skane University Hospital Malmö, Malmö, Sweden.
authors.forename: Ovidiu S
authors.initials: OS
authors.lastname: Cotoi
authors.forename: Pontus
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Dunér
authors.forename: Nayoung
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Ko
authors.forename: Bo
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Hedblad
authors.forename: Jan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Nilsson
authors.forename: Harry
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Björkbacka
authors.forename: Alexandru
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Schiopu
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood; D040501:Calgranulin A / Q000097:blood*; D040502:Calgranulin B / Q000097:blood*; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000097:blood* / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000401:mortality; D002340:Carotid Artery Diseases / Q000097:blood / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology; D059168:Carotid Intima-Media Thickness; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D016207:Cytokines / Q000097:blood; D018572:Disease-Free Survival; D005260:Female; D064368:Healthy Volunteers; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D053208:Kaplan-Meier Estimate; D007958:Leukocyte Count; D016014:Linear Models; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D018375:Neutrophil Activation; D009504:Neutrophils / Q000378:metabolism*; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D013548:Sweden / Q000453:epidemiology; D013997:Time Factors
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D040501:Calgranulin A; D040502:Calgranulin B; D016207:Cytokines
keywords: carotid intima-media thickness; immune system; inflammation; neutrophils