Circulating pentraxin 3 levels are higher in metabolic syndrome with subclinical atherosclerosis: evidence for association with atherogenic lipid profile

Abstract

Metabolic syndrome is characterized by increased cardiovascular risk. Pentraxin 3 (PTX3), an acute phase protein, is involved in atherosclerosis. No information is available on PTX3 plasma concentrations in metabolic syndrome and on its associations with metabolic alterations and subclinical atherosclerosis. The aim of this study was to assess PTX3 plasma levels in metabolic syndrome patients compared to control subjects and their potential associations with anthropometric and clinical components of the syndrome as well as with carotid artery intima-media thickness (cIMT), a marker of subclinical atherosclerosis. Plasma was obtained from metabolic syndrome patients (NCEP-ATP III criteria n = 41, 20 M/21F) and by age-matched control subjects (n = 32, 16 M/16F). PTX3 was measured using sandwich ELISA and cIMT with ultrasound. Compared to those of the control subjects, plasma levels of PTX3 were higher (? * 100%, P = 0.0009) in metabolic syndrome patients. In univariate analysis, plasma PTX3 was negatively (P = 0.005) associated with high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol and positively (P = 0.046) with plasma triglycerides and with cIMT (P = 0.045) in the patients (n = 41). In multivariate analysis the direct association between PTX3 and cIMT was no longer significant after correction for HDL. None of these associations were detected in the control patients. These data demonstrate that PTX3, a novel marker of vascular disease, is higher in patients with metabolic syndrome associated with subclinical atherosclerosis. In addition, PTX3 is significantly independently correlated with low HDL cholesterol, but not with cIMT, suggesting a novel association between PTX3 and atherogenic lipid profile.

WITHDRAWN: Relationship between circulating irisin, retinol binding protein-4, adiponectin and inflammatory mediators in patients with metabolic syndrome

“…Kardas and cols. (24) reported that PTX-3 levels were higher in obese children and adolescents with MetS and CVD, and that these levels were positively correlated with TG and negatively correlated with HDL-C levels (24,25). It was suggested that PTX3 levels may increase in order to confer protection against cardiac tissue damage.…”

“…It was suggested that PTX3 levels may increase in order to confer protection against cardiac tissue damage. PTX3 binds to activated platelets and reduces inflammation in the cardiovascular bed (12), and might be a novel marker for subclinical atherosclerosis (25). These findings suggested that both PTX-3 and RBP-4 may be used to predict inflammatory status in MetS instead of hsCR, which is a well-known acute phase inflammatory marker.…”

Plasma PTX3 protein levels inversely correlate with insulin secretion and obesity, whereas visceral adipose tissue PTX3 gene expression is increased in obesity

“…Likewise, negative correlations between concentrations of plasma PTX3 protein and triglycerides and BMI and lower PTX3 values in individuals with metabolic syndrome were described in a large population of subjects (34,44). However, some recent studies (30,45) disagree with these associations, reporting a positive link between PTX3, obesity, and some cardiovascular risk factors that associates the inflammatory function of this pentraxin with a worse cardiovascular profile. There is little information about PTX3 gene expression in AT, although PTX3 mRNA levels are higher in the white AT of genetically obese (ob/ob) and obese diabetic (db/db) mice than in controls (1).…”

Pentraksyna 3 jako niezależny marker rozwoju choroby wieńcowej, stopnia jej zaawansowania oraz rokowania

“…W ogólnej populacji osób zdrowych nie obserwuje się związku PTX3 z profilem lipidowym [14]. Koreluje ona natomiast dodatnio ze stężeniami cholesterolu frakcji LDL i triglicerydów u osób z zaburzeniami gospodarki węglowo-danowej, insulinoopornością, zespołem metabolicznym i cukrzycą typu 2 [15][16][17].…”