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Diagnostic and Prognostic Value of Low Density Lipoprotein-Containing Circulating Immune Complexes in Atherosclerosis

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Abstract

Recently, it has been shown that increased level of LDL-containing circulating immune complexes (LDL-CIC) possess high diagnostic significance in clinically manifested atherosclerosis, but little is known about its diagnostic and prognostic significance in early atherosclerosis. Two-years prospective study was performed in 98 asymptomatic men aged 40–74. The rate of atherosclerosis progression was estimated by high-resolution B-mode ultrasonography as the increase in intima-media thickness (IMT) of common carotid arteries. The patients with elevated baseline levels of LDL-CIC were characterized by significantly higher levels of total and LDL cholesterol as well as significantly increased mean IMT of common carotid arteries. Among all baseline lipid parameters, only LDL-CIC and LDL cholesterol were contingent with the extent of early carotid atherosclerosis (p = 0.042 and p = 0.049, respectively) and had the highest levels of relative risk and odds ratio. During the follow up, significant IMT increase was registered in 53.1 % (n = 52) patients, IMT significant reduction was observed in 21.4 % (n = 21) patients. The increased levels of LDL-CIC, total serum cholesterol and LDL cholesterol had similar prognostic significance with the respect of atherosclerosis progression. The normal level of LDL-CIC (below than 16.0 μg/ml) was the only lipid parameter that predicted the absence of carotid atherosclerosis progression for two following years at prognostic value of 78.3 %. The results of the study allow assuming that LDL-CIC level may be employed not only as a marker of early atherosclerosis, but also has a sufficient prognostic value for clinical implications.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Maria V. Razumkina for assistance with statistical analysis.

Funding

The study was supported by the Russian Ministry of Education and Science.

Conflict of Interest

There are no conflicts of interest related to the manuscript.

Authorship

All authors have contributed in a substantive and intellectual manner to the work described.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of General Pathology and Pathophysiology, Russian Academy of Medical Sciences, 125315, Moscow, Russia

    Igor A. Sobenin, Vasily P. Karagodin & Alexander N. Orekhov

  2. Institute for Atherosclerosis Research, Skolkovo Innovative Centre, 143025, Moscow Region, Russia

    Igor A. Sobenin, Alexandra А. Melnichenko, Yuri V. Bobryshev & Alexander N. Orekhov

  3. Faculty of Medicine, St Vincent’s Hospital Sydney and University of New South Wales, Kensington, NSW, 2052, Australia

    Yuri V. Bobryshev

Authors
  1. Igor A. Sobenin
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  2. Vasily P. Karagodin
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  3. Alexandra А. Melnichenko
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  4. Yuri V. Bobryshev
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  5. Alexander N. Orekhov
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Yuri V. Bobryshev.

Electronic supplementary material

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Supplementary Figure 1

Correlation plots of carotid IMT and lipid parameters at the baseline. A—total cholesterol, B—LDL cholesterol, C—HDL cholesterol, D—triglycerides, E—LDL-CIC. (DOCX 89 kb)

Supplementary Figure 2

Correlation plots of changes in carotid IMT during follow-up and baseline lipid parameters. A—total cholesterol, B—LDL cholesterol, C—HDL cholesterol, D—triglycerides, E—LDL-CIC. (DOCX 90 kb)

Supplementary Figure 3

ROC curves for sensitivity/specificity analysis of lipid parameters. 1—LDL-CIC, 2—LDL cholesterol, 3—HDL cholesterol, 4—total cholesterol, 5—triglycerides. For LDL-CIC, LDL cholesterol, total cholesterol and triglycerides IMT progression is taken as an actual state; for HDL cholesterol the absence of IMT progression is taken as an actual state. Diagonal segments are produced by ties. (DOCX 104 kb)

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Sobenin, I.A., Karagodin, V.P., Melnichenko, A.А. et al. Diagnostic and Prognostic Value of Low Density Lipoprotein-Containing Circulating Immune Complexes in Atherosclerosis. J Clin Immunol 33, 489–495 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10875-012-9819-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10875-012-9819-4

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