A study in the correlation between vascular factors and plaque imaging morphology of coronary borderline lesions in patients with coronary heart disease

Abstract

Objective To investigate the correlation between the levels of placenta growth factor (PLGF) , soluble angiopoietin receptor-2 (sTie-2) and critical coronary artery plaque imaging morphology of coronary borderline lesions in patients with coronary heart disease (CHD) . Methods In three consecutive years from April 2007 to September 2009, a cohort of 719 patients with borderline coronary lesions with stenosis in three main vessels with lumen diameter reduction varied all the way from more than 20% to less than 70% and with greater than 2.25 mm of the inner diameter were selected in this study from 4 teaching hospitals of tertiary class A in Beijing. These patients fell into three categories: unstable angina pectoris (UAP, n =292) , stable angina pectoris (SAP, n =219) and coronary arteriosclerosis (AS, n =208) . The vessels involved were analyzed using quantitative coronary angiography (QCA) . Plasma levels of PLGF and sTie-2 were measured by using protein chip. The relationship between plasma levels of vascular factors, sTie-2, PLGF and coronary artery plaque imaging morphology among three groups were analyzed. Results (1) Plasma level of PLGF was 80.33 ng/L in the UAP group, which was significantly higher than 54.29 ng/L in the SAP group and 45.16 ng/L in AS group (both P <0.05) . Plasma level of sTie-2 was 1353.06 ng/L in the UAP group, which was significantly higher than 1308.28 ng/L in the AS group (P =0.008) . (2) There was significantly statistical differences in QCA between the SAP group and the UAP group as well as the AS group (both P <0.05) in terms of the minimal lumen diameter, diameter stenosis rate, minimal lumen cross-sectional area and cross-sectional area of stenosis. The plaque area in the UAP group was larger than that in the AS group (P =0.013) . (3) The relationship between vascular factors and plaque imaging morphology was analyzed. There was significantly statistical difference in the involved lesions among the three groups (P <0.01) . (4) There was a positive correlation between plasma level of PLGF and minimal lumen cross-sectional area (r =0.493, P =0.009). Conclusions The plasma levels of PLGF and sTie-2 reflect the level of neo-vascularization in the plaque, and could be taken as predictive factors for potential pathogenesis of coronary plaque. Key words: Coronary heart disease; PLGF; sTie-2; Quantitative coronary angiography