Association between Plasma Monocyte Chemoattractant Protein-1 Levels and the Extent of Atherosclerotic Peripheral Artery Disease

Association between Plasma Monocyte Chemoattractant Protein-1 Levels and the Extent of Atherosclerotic Peripheral Artery Disease

OMER SATIROGLU,¹ HUSEYIN AVNI UYDU,² ADEM DEMIR,² MEHMET BOSTAN,¹ MEHTAP ATAK² and ENGIN BOZKURT¹

¹Department of Cardiology, Rize University Faculty of Medicine, Rize, Turkey
²Department of Chemistry, Rize University Faculty of Medicine, Rize, Turkey

Peripheral artery disease occurs at advanced ages and accounts for substantial cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. Monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1), a member of the cysteine-cysteine family of chemokines, is one of the cytokines involved in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis and is also known as cysteine-cysteine chemokine ligand 2 (CCL2). The aim of the current study was to investigate the association between the extent of atherosclerotic peripheral artery disease (PAD) and the increase in MCP-1 level. Eighty consecutive patients who had undergone peripheral angiography for suspected PAD were included. Of these patients, 48 (60%) had hypertension, 23 (28.8%) had type 2 diabetes mellitus, 39 (48.8%) had a family history of coronary artery disease, 23 (28.8%) were cigarette smokers, and 42 (52.5%) had hypercholesterolemia. Angiography revealed that the peripheral arteries of the lower extremity were normal in 41 (51.3%) patients, whereas 39 (48.7%) patients had varying degrees of PAD. The patients were queried regarding age, gender, and atherosclerotic risk factors. The plasma MCP-1 levels were significantly lower in the patients without PAD than those in the patients with PAD (172.27 ± 38.05 pg/mL vs. 200.87 ± 39.31 pg/mL, p = 0.001). Moreover, as the severity of PAD increases, MCP-1 levels also increase. Thus, the plasma MCP-1 level can be used in the diagnosis of PAD and in determining the extent of atherosclerotic PAD of the lower extremities, as in determining the extent of coronary artery disease.

keywords —— atherosclerosis; monocyte chemoattractant protein-1; peripheral angiography; peripheral artery disease; risk factors

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Tohoku J. Exp. Med., 2011, 224, 301-306

Correspondence: Omer Satiroglu, M.D., Department of Cardiology, Rize University Faculty of Medicine, 53100, Rize, Turkey.

e-mail: omersatiroglu@yahoo.com