Abstract
Objective
The clinical significance of the measurement of serum PCSK9 (proprotein subtilisin
kexin type 9) is not well defined. This study investigated the association between
serum PCSK9 levels and atherosclerosis assessed by carotid intima media thickness
(IMT) in hypertensive patients.
Methods
A total of 126 hypertensive patients over the age of 45 were enrolled. The maximum
carotid IMT (max-IMT) and the mean carotid IMT (mean-IMT) were measured at the time
of enrollment. Clinical and laboratory parameters including serum PCSK9 were analyzed.
Results
Patients were divided into tertiles based on serum PCSK9 levels. After adjusting for
age, sex, total cholesterol, HDL-cholesterol and triglyceride, max-IMT was significantly
increased in the highest tertile of serum PCSK9 (0.969±0.033 vs 0.959±0.033 vs 1.077±0.033 mm, respectively; P=0.026). Mean-IMT showed a tendency to increase across the tertile groups (0.773±0.025 vs 0.790±0.026 vs 0.856±0.025 mm, respectively; P=0.059). Multivariate regression analysis revealed that serum PCSK9 was independently
associated with carotid IMT (max-IMT: β=0.212, P=0.016; mean-IMT: β=0.184, P=0.04).
Conclusion
The present study is the first to report the association between serum PCSK9 levels
and carotid IMT in hypertensive patients. These results suggest that serum PCSK9 may
have a certain role in early pathogenesis of atherosclerosis.
Abbreviations:
ANCOVA (analysis of covariance), ANOVA (analysis of variance), SD (standard deviation), BMI (body mass index), SBP (systolic blood pressure), DBP (diastolic blood pressure), DM (diabetes mellitus), IMT (intima media thickness), LDLR (low-density lipoprotein receptor), PCSK9 (proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin type 9)Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: February 04, 2013
Accepted:
January 7,
2013
Received:
July 16,
2012
Identification
Copyright
© 2013 Elsevier Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
