Relationship between Hemostatic Markers and Circulating Biochemical Markers of Collagen Metabolism in Patients with Aortic Aneurysm

Abstract

Our objective was to determine the relationship between plasma levels of hemostatic molecular markers – D-dimer and thrombin-antithrombin III complex (TAT) – and circulating biochemical markers of collagen metabolism – aminoterminal propeptide of type III procollagen (PIIIP) and carboxyterminal propeptide of type I procollagen (PICP) – in patients with aortic aneurysm. The subjects were 43 patients with aortic aneurysm (AA; mean age 71 years) and 26 age-matched controls (mean age 75 years). The mean D-dimer, TAT and PIIIP levels were higher in the patients than in the controls (p < 0.0001, 0.0001 and 0.012, respectively), while the mean PICP level was similar to that in the controls. Increased D-dimer had a significant correlation with PIIIP (r = 0.412, p = 0.006) and PICP (r = 0.342, p = 0.0246), while TAT correlated with PIIIP (r = 0.3194, p = 0.0374), but not with PICP. There was also a significant correlation (r = 0.306, p = 0.0463) between PIIIP and PICP. As shown by the significant positive correlations among D-dimer, TAT and PIIIP, accelerated fibrinolysis and thrombogenesis induce an increase of collagen degradation and procollagen synthesis in atherosclerotic lesions. These findings show that D-dimer and TAT, especially the former, may be useful markers to monitor the progression and predict the prognosis of AA.