title: High serum YKL-40 level positively correlates with coronary artery disease.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  We investigated the predictive value of chitinase-like protein YKL-40 in coronary artery disease (CAD).
  
  
  METHODS
  Serum YKL-40 levels in 116 CAD patients and 82 healthy controls were analyzed. Severity of CAD was evaluated using Gensini scores. Spearman's correlation was used to evaluate the correlation between Gensini scores and YKL-40 levels. The predictive value of YKL-40 was determined by receivers operating characteristic curve analysis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Serum YKL-40 levels were significantly elevated in CAD group as compared with control group. A positive correlation was found between the serum YKL-40 level and Gensini score. The optimum cut-off value of YKL-40 concentration was 127.7 ng/ml for distinguishing CAD patients from healthy controls with a 75.9% sensitivity and 57.3% specificity.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  A positive correlation exists between YKL-40 levels and CAD, and YKL-40 might be a useful adjunct in the diagnosis of CAD.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, WuXi Second Hospital, Nanjing Medical University, 68 Zhongshan Road, Wuxi 214002, China.
authors.forename: Yan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Jin
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, WuXi Second Hospital, Nanjing Medical University, 68 Zhongshan Road, Wuxi 214002, China.
authors.forename: Jia-Ning
authors.initials: JN
authors.lastname: Cao
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, WuXi Second Hospital, Nanjing Medical University, 68 Zhongshan Road, Wuxi 214002, China.
authors.forename: Chun-Xia
authors.initials: CX
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, WuXi Second Hospital, Nanjing Medical University, 68 Zhongshan Road, Wuxi 214002, China.
authors.forename: Qiu-Ting
authors.initials: QT
authors.lastname: Feng
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, WuXi Second Hospital, Nanjing Medical University, 68 Zhongshan Road, Wuxi 214002, China.
authors.forename: Xin-He
authors.initials: XH
authors.lastname: Ye
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, WuXi Second Hospital, Nanjing Medical University, 68 Zhongshan Road, Wuxi 214002, China.
authors.forename: Xin
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, WuXi Second Hospital, Nanjing Medical University, 68 Zhongshan Road, Wuxi 214002, China.
authors.forename: Cheng-Jian
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Yang
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D019540:Area Under Curve; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D000071451:Chitinase-3-Like Protein 1 / Q000097:blood*; D003324:Coronary Artery Disease / Q000097:blood / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D012372:ROC Curve; D012720:Severity of Illness Index
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D000071451:Chitinase-3-Like Protein 1
keywords: CAD; Gensini score; ROC curve; YKL-40; coronary artery disease (CAD); diagnosis; predictive value; sensitivity; serum; specificity