Pregnancy-associated plasma protein-A (PAPP-A) as a possible biomarker in patients with coronary artery disease.

Abstract

Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in the Western world, and a major cause of this disease is atherosclerosis. Research has demonstrated that pregnancy-associated plasma protein A (PAPP-A) plays a role in cardiovascular disease, as evidenced by the association between PAPP-A and severity of heart damage. The aim of this work was to investigate the correlation between PAPP-A concentrations in coronary and peripheral blood and certain clinicopathological factors and antioxidant enzyme activities in patients diagnosed with coronary artery disease. For 65 patients, arterial blood was obtained by puncturing the femoral or radial artery, and coronary blood was obtained via percutaneous coronary intervention. PAPP-A, catalase (CAT), superoxide dismutase-1 (SOD-1), and superoxide dismutase-2 (SOD-2) levels were measured using spectrometric methods. Coronary PAPP-A levels were slightly higher than peripheral PAPP-A levels (81.25±2.34 and 62±3ng/mL, respectively, P<0.0001); these levels were correlated with each other (r=0.6629, P<0.001) but not with clinicopathological factors (P>0.05). Coronary PAPP-A levels were significantly elevated among patients at risk for cardiovascular disease (P<0.05). Antioxidant enzyme activities were significantly higher in coronary samples than in peripheral samples from subjects with ischemic cardiopathy secondary to atherosclerosis (P<0.001). Neither coronary nor peripheral PAPP-A levels were correlated with antioxidant enzyme activities in patients with cardiopathy secondary to atherosclerosis (P>0.05). PAPP-A levels could be used as biomarkers to identify patients at risk of coronary artery disease.