TY - JOUR
T1 - Potential relation between plasma bdnf levels and human coronary plaque morphology
AU - Amadio, Patrizia
AU - Cosentino, Nicola
AU - Eligini, Sonia
AU - Barbieri, Simone
AU - Tedesco, Calogero Claudio
AU - Sandrini, Leonardo
AU - Zarà, Marta
AU - Fabiocchi, Franco
AU - Niccoli, Giampaolo
AU - Magnani, Giulia
AU - Fracassi, Francesco
AU - Crea, Filippo
AU - Veglia, Fabrizio
AU - Marenzi, Giancarlo
AU - Barbieri, Silvia Stella
N1 - Funding Information:
Funding: This work was supported by funding from the Italian Ministry of Health, Rome, Italy (Ricerca Corrente RC 2019 MPP 2B ID 2755316, RC 2020 MPP 2B ID 2757640, 5x1000 2015-2016-2018) and from Fondazione Cariplo (Rif. 2018-0525). L.S. was partially supported by Fondazione Umberto Veronesi.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
PY - 2021/6/1
Y1 - 2021/6/1
N2 - Coronary artery disease (CAD) patients are at high ischemic risk, and new biomarkers reflecting atherosclerotic disease severity and coronary plaque vulnerability are required. The Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF) affects endothelial and macrophage activation suggesting its involvement in atherosclerotic plaque behavior. To investigate whether plasma BDNF is associated with in vivo coronary plaque features, assessed by optical coherence tomography (OCT), in both acute myocardial infarction (AMI) and stable angina (SA) patients, we enrolled 55 CAD patients (31 SA and 24 AMI), and 21 healthy subjects (HS). BDNF was lower in CAD patients than in HS (p < 0.0001), and it decreased with the presence, clinical acuity and severity of CAD. The greater BDNF levels were associated with OCT features of plaque vulnerability in overall CAD as well as in SA and AMI patients (p < 0.03). Specifically, in SA patients, BDNF correlated positively with macrophages’ infiltration within atherosclerotic plaque (p = 0.01) and inversely with minimal lumen area (p = 0.02). In AMI patients a negative correlation between BDNF and cap thickness was found (p = 0.02). Despite a small study population, our data suggest a relationship between BDNF and coronary plaque vulnerability, showing that vulnerable plaque is positively associated with plasma BDNF levels, regardless of the clinical CAD manifestation.
AB - Coronary artery disease (CAD) patients are at high ischemic risk, and new biomarkers reflecting atherosclerotic disease severity and coronary plaque vulnerability are required. The Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF) affects endothelial and macrophage activation suggesting its involvement in atherosclerotic plaque behavior. To investigate whether plasma BDNF is associated with in vivo coronary plaque features, assessed by optical coherence tomography (OCT), in both acute myocardial infarction (AMI) and stable angina (SA) patients, we enrolled 55 CAD patients (31 SA and 24 AMI), and 21 healthy subjects (HS). BDNF was lower in CAD patients than in HS (p < 0.0001), and it decreased with the presence, clinical acuity and severity of CAD. The greater BDNF levels were associated with OCT features of plaque vulnerability in overall CAD as well as in SA and AMI patients (p < 0.03). Specifically, in SA patients, BDNF correlated positively with macrophages’ infiltration within atherosclerotic plaque (p = 0.01) and inversely with minimal lumen area (p = 0.02). In AMI patients a negative correlation between BDNF and cap thickness was found (p = 0.02). Despite a small study population, our data suggest a relationship between BDNF and coronary plaque vulnerability, showing that vulnerable plaque is positively associated with plasma BDNF levels, regardless of the clinical CAD manifestation.
KW - Acute myocardial infarction
KW - BDNF
KW - CAD
KW - OCT
KW - Plaque morphology
KW - Plaque vulnerability
KW - Stable angina
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U2 - 10.3390/diagnostics11061010
DO - 10.3390/diagnostics11061010
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85108286273
VL - 11
JO - Diagnostics
JF - Diagnostics
SN - 2075-4418
IS - 6
M1 - 1010
ER -