title: Prediction of subclinical atherosclerosis by serum osteoprotegerin in premenopausal women with systemic lupus erythematous: correlation of osteoprotegerin with monocyte chemotactic protein-1.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) have increased risk for cardiovascular disease. Previous studies disclosed the association of serum osteoprotegerin (OPG) with the presence of symptomatic atherosclerosis in the general population and several disease conditions. We thus investigated the association between serum OPG levels and subclinical atherosclerosis in premenopausal SLE patients.
  
  
  METHODS
  Serum OPG levels and carotid artery intima-media thickness (IMT) were measured in 181 premenopausal SLE patients and age-matched 85 control subjects. Traditional cardiovascular risk factors and SLE-related factors were analyzed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Patients with SLE had significantly increased serum OPG levels (1086 versus 517 pg/ml, p < 0.001) and carotid IMT (0.63 versus 0.45 mm, p < 0.001) compared with control subjects. Carotid IMT significantly increased across the quartiles of OPG. Logistic regression analysis revealed that compared to the lowest OPG quartile, the odds ratio (OR, 95% confidence interval) for increased carotid IMT in quartile 2, 3, and 4 was 1.126 (1.013-1.801), 1.562 (1.268-2.799), and 4.460 (1.126-7.128), respectively, after multiple adjustments (p for trend across quartiles < 0.001). These associations remained significant after further adjustment for inflammatory parameters. Interestingly, serum monocyte chemotactic protein-1 (MCP-1) levels were positively correlated with serum OPG levels (γ = 0.332, p < 0.001). Parallel analysis showed that serum MCP-1 was also an independent predictor of carotid IMT incrassation, but this association was lost when serum OPG was included in the model.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Serum OPG levels were increased and correlated with serum MCP-1 levels in premenopausal SLE patients. Increased serum OPG was independently associated with subclinical atherosclerosis in these patients.
authors: 1Division of Rheumatology, Department of Internal Medicine, St. Vincent Hospital, The Catholic University of Korea, Suwon, Korea.
authors: Y-J
authors: YJ
authors: Park
authors: Y-J
authors: YJ
authors: Shin
authors: W-U
authors: WU
authors: Kim
authors: C-S
authors: CS
authors: Cho
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D058070:Asymptomatic Diseases; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood; D002340:Carotid Artery Diseases / Q000097:blood* / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology; D059168:Carotid Intima-Media Thickness; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D018932:Chemokine CCL2 / Q000097:blood*; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008180:Lupus Erythematosus, Systemic / Q000097:blood* / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology; D016017:Odds Ratio; D053244:Osteoprotegerin / Q000097:blood*; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D017697:Premenopause / Q000097:blood*; D056910:Republic of Korea / Q000453:epidemiology; D012307:Risk Factors; D015854:Up-Regulation
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; C111835:CCL2 protein, human; D018932:Chemokine CCL2; D053244:Osteoprotegerin; C506030:TNFRSF11B protein, human
keywords: Systemic lupus erythematosus; intima-media thickness; monocyte chemotactic protein-1; osteoprotegerin; subclinical atherosclerosis