No Significant Association Between Plasma Endosialin Levels and the Presence or Severity of Coronary Artery Disease

Yoshimi Kishimoto; Masayuki Aoyama; Emi Saita; Reiko Ohmori; Kojiro Tanimoto; Kazuo Kondo; Yukihiko Momiyama

doi:10.14740/jocmr4730

No Significant Association Between Plasma Endosialin Levels and the Presence or Severity of Coronary Artery Disease

J Clin Med Res. 2022 May;14(5):202-208. doi: 10.14740/jocmr4730. Epub 2022 May 31.

Authors

Yoshimi Kishimoto¹, Masayuki Aoyama², Emi Saita³, Reiko Ohmori⁴, Kojiro Tanimoto², Kazuo Kondo⁵, Yukihiko Momiyama²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition, Setsunan University, Osaka, Japan.
² Department of Cardiology, National Hospital Organization Tokyo Medical Center, Tokyo, Japan.
³ Research Institute of Environmental Medicine, Nagoya University, Aichi, Japan.
⁴ Faculty of Regional Design, Utsunomiya University, Tochigi, Japan.
⁵ Ochanomizu University, Tokyo, Japan.

Abstract

Background: Endosialin, also called tumor endothelial marker-1 or CD248, is a transmembrane glycoprotein that is suggested to play a role in inflammation as well as tumor progression. Endosialin expression was also reported to be upregulated in human atherosclerotic lesions. However, no study has reported blood endosialin levels in patients with coronary artery disease (CAD).

Methods: We investigated the association between plasma endosialin levels and the presence or severity of CAD in 376 patients who underwent elective coronary angiography for suspected CAD. The severity of CAD was represented as the numbers of stenotic coronary vessels and segments.

Results: Of the 376 study patients, CAD was found in 210 patients (one-vessel disease (1-VD), n = 90; two-vessel disease (2-VD), n = 65; and three-vessel disease (3-VD), n = 55). Compared with 166 patients without CAD, 210 patients with CAD had higher C-reactive protein (CRP) levels (median 0.57 vs. 0.43 mg/L, P = 0.007). However, endosialin levels did not significantly differ between patients with and without CAD (0.91 vs. 0.92 ng/mL, P = 0.693). A stepwise increase in CRP levels was found depending on the number of > 50% stenotic vessels: 0.43 in CAD(-), 0.52 in 1-VD, 0.57 in 2-VD, and 0.58 mg/L in 3-VD (P = 0.019). No marked difference was found in endosialin levels among four groups of CAD(-), 1-VD, 2-VD, and 3-VD (0.92, 0.89, 0.98, and 0.87 ng/mL, respectively, P = 0.785). Moreover, no significant correlation was found between endosialin levels and the numbers of > 50% and > 25% stenotic segments or CRP levels. In multivariate analysis, endosialin levels were not a significant factor associated with CAD independent of atherosclerotic risk factors.

Conclusions: Plasma endosialin levels in patients with CAD were found to be not higher than in those without CAD and to be not significantly associated with the presence or severity of CAD.

Keywords: Atherosclerosis; Biomarker; C-reactive protein; Coronary artery disease; Endosialin; Inflammation.