Zanetti Michela, Bosutti Alessandra, Ferreira Clara, Vinci Pierandrea, Biolo Gianni, Fonda Maurizio, Valente Matteo, Cattin Luigi, Guarnieri Gianfranco, Barazzoni Rocco
Clinica Medica Generale, DSCMT, University of Trieste, Ospedale di Cattinara, Strada di Fiume 447, 34100 Trieste, Italy.
Clin Exp Med. 2009 Sep;9(3):243-8. doi: 10.1007/s10238-009-0039-z. Epub 2009 Feb 24.
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.
代谢综合征的特征是心血管风险增加。五聚体3（PTX3）是一种急性期蛋白，参与动脉粥样硬化过程。目前尚无关于代谢综合征患者血浆PTX3浓度及其与代谢改变和亚临床动脉粥样硬化关联的信息。本研究的目的是评估代谢综合征患者与对照受试者相比的血浆PTX3水平，以及其与该综合征的人体测量和临床指标以及与作为亚临床动脉粥样硬化标志物的颈动脉内膜中层厚度（cIMT）之间的潜在关联。从代谢综合征患者（符合NCEP-ATP III标准，n = 41，20名男性/21名女性）和年龄匹配的对照受试者（n = 32，16名男性/16名女性）获取血浆。使用夹心ELISA法测定PTX3，用超声测量cIMT。与对照受试者相比，代谢综合征患者的血浆PTX3水平更高（升高100%，P = 0.0009）。在单因素分析中，患者（n = 41）的血浆PTX3与高密度脂蛋白（HDL）胆固醇呈负相关（P = 0.005），与血浆甘油三酯和cIMT呈正相关（P = 0.046和P = 0.045）。在多因素分析中，校正HDL后，PTX3与cIMT之间的直接关联不再显著。在对照患者中未检测到这些关联。这些数据表明，PTX3作为一种新的血管疾病标志物，在与亚临床动脉粥样硬化相关的代谢综合征患者中水平更高。此外，PTX3与低HDL胆固醇显著独立相关，但与cIMT无关，提示PTX3与致动脉粥样硬化血脂谱之间存在新的关联。
