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Association between plasma levels of PCSK9 and the presence of coronary artery disease in Japanese

Heart and Vessels volume 34, pages 19–28 (2019)Cite this article

Abstract

The ability of pro-protein convertase subtilisin/kexin type 9 (PCSK9) levels to predict the presence or severity of coronary artery disease (CAD) remains controversial. The purpose of this study was to investigate these associations. We enrolled 393 patients who were clinically suspected to have CAD or who had at least one cardiac risk factor and underwent multidetector-row computed tomography coronary angiography. The presence of CAD (≥50% coronary stenosis), the number of significantly stenosed coronary vessels, and plasma levels of PCSK9 by ELISA were analyzed. Plasma PCSK9 levels (log-transformed data) were significantly associated with the presence of CAD. Next, we divided the patients into two groups (non-statin and statin groups) according to statin treatment. PCSK9 levels in the non-statin group were significantly lower than those in the statin group. There were no significant differences in PCSK9 levels between the absence and presence of CAD in the statin group. However, in the non-statin group, PCSK9 levels in patients with CAD were significantly higher than those in patients without CAD. PCSK9 levels, in addition to age, gender, BMI, DM and HDL-C, were independently associated with the presence of CAD by a multivariable analysis. In conclusion, our results demonstrated that plasma PCSK9 levels may be a marker for evaluating the presence of CAD.

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Affiliations

  1. Department of Cardiology, Fukuoka University School of Medicine, 7-45-1 Nanakuma, Jonan-ku, Fukuoka, 814-0180, Japan

    Daisuke Nose, Yuhei Shiga, Yoko Ueda, Yoshiaki Idemoto, Kohei Tashiro, Yasusnori Suematsu, Takashi Kuwano, Ken Kitajima, Keijiro Saku & Shin-ichiro Miura

  2. Department of Molecular Cardiovascular Therapeutics, Fukuoka University School of Medicine, Fukuoka, Japan

    Keijiro Saku & Shin-ichiro Miura

Authors
  1. Daisuke Nose
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  2. Yuhei Shiga
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  3. Yoko Ueda
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  4. Yoshiaki Idemoto
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  5. Kohei Tashiro
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  6. Yasusnori Suematsu
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  7. Takashi Kuwano
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  8. Ken Kitajima
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  9. Keijiro Saku
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  10. Shin-ichiro Miura
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Shin-ichiro Miura.

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Conflict of interest

KS and SM are Directors of NPO Clinical and Applied Science, Fukuoka, Japan. KS and SM received a grant from the Public Interest Incorporated Foundation of “Clinical Research Promotion Foundation” in Fukuoka, Japan, and part of this work was transferred to NPO Clinical and Applied Science, Fukuoka, Japan. KS has an Endowed Department of Molecular Cardiovascular Therapeutics (SM), Fukuoka University, supported by MSD Co., Ltd.

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Nose, D., Shiga, Y., Ueda, Y. et al. Association between plasma levels of PCSK9 and the presence of coronary artery disease in Japanese. Heart Vessels 34, 19–28 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00380-018-1218-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00380-018-1218-1

Keywords

  • Pro-protein convertase subtilisin/kexin type 9
  • Coronary artery disease
  • Multidetector-row computed tomography
  • Statin