1st Cardiology Unit, Hippokration Hospital, Athens University Medical School, Athens, Greece.
Curr Med Chem. 2012;19(16):2521-33. doi: 10.2174/092986712800493039.
Atherosclerosis is a very complex procedure responsible for the development of coronary artery disease which is the leading cause of death in the civilized world. The obvious pandemic character of atherosclerosis augments the need to discover an ideal biomarker, which will be able to facilitate the clinical diagnosis of the atherosclerosis from the physicians especially in the early stages of the atherosclerotic process. Among the biomarkers that are already used there are classical ones, such as c-reactive protein, interleukins, tumour necrosis factor, apolipoproteins, fibrinogen, homocysteine, and novel promising ones such as lipoprotein-associated phospholipase, asymmetric dimethylarginine, myeloperoxidase, cathepsins and cystatin C. The possibility of combining circulating biomarkers with other methods such as non-invasive and invasive imaging is clinically attractive because this could contribute to the improved diagnosis and understanding of premature atherosclerosis pathogenesis.
动脉粥样硬化是一个非常复杂的过程，它是导致冠心病的主要原因，而冠心病是文明世界的主要死亡原因。动脉粥样硬化明显的流行特征增加了发现理想生物标志物的需求，这将有助于临床医生特别是在动脉粥样硬化过程的早期阶段对动脉粥样硬化进行诊断。已经使用的生物标志物包括经典标志物，如 C 反应蛋白、白细胞介素、肿瘤坏死因子、载脂蛋白、纤维蛋白原、同型半胱氨酸，以及新型有前途的标志物，如脂蛋白相关磷脂酶、不对称二甲基精氨酸、髓过氧化物酶、组织蛋白酶和胱抑素 C。将循环生物标志物与其他方法（如非侵入性和侵入性成像）结合的可能性在临床上具有吸引力，因为这可能有助于改善对早发性动脉粥样硬化发病机制的诊断和理解。
