BACKGROUND

Offspring of patients with early myocardial infarction have a higher risk to develop cardiovascular events; the underlying physiopathology is still unclear. Several lines of evidence support a role for oxidative stress in atherogenesis and NADPH oxidase-2 (NOX-2) is considered a major source of O2 in human. Furthermore, oxidative stress regulates arachidonic acid metabolism via activation of platelet phospholipase-A2. The aim of this study was to address NOX-2 activity as well as serum thromboxane B2 (TXB2) and 8-isoPGF2-alpha in offspring of patients with premature myocardial infarction.

METHODS

Ninety-two consecutive subjects, including 46 offspring of patients with premature myocardial infarction and 46 healthy subjects (HS) matched for age and gender, were recruited. A cross sectional study was performed to compare serum activity of soluble NOX-2-dp (sNOX-2-dp), blood levels of isoprostanes and serum TXB2 in these two groups.

RESULTS

Compared with HS, offspring of patients with early myocardial infarction had higher values of serum TxB2, isoprostanes and sNOX-2-dp. Bivariate analysis in the overall population showed that serum sNOX-2-dp levels were significantly associated with serum isoprostanes and TXB2. A multiple linear regression analysis was performed to define the independent predictors of sNOX-2-dp. Serum isoprostanes (SE: 0.07; standardized coefficient β: 0.579; P < 0.001) and TXB2 levels (SE: 0.06; standardized coefficient β: 0.211; P < 0.001) were significantly associated to sNOX-2-dp (R2: 0.42).

CONCLUSION

This study shows that Nox-2 activation is a key determinant of oxidative stress and platelet activation in offspring of patients with premature myocardial infarction.