Arteriosclerosis, thrombosis, and vascular biology
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Arterioscler. Thromb. Vasc. Biol. · Nov 1997
Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative Study Clinical TrialSoluble vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 as a biohumoral correlate of atherosclerosis.
Vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 (VCAM-1) is a protein expressed on the surface of activated endothelial cells and expressed in early atherosclerosis. Because part of the protein is shed in the circulation and can be detected in peripheral plasma [soluble (s) VCAM-1], we hypothesized that sVCAM-1 may be a circulating marker of the presence and severity of atherosclerosis in humans. We selected 11 patients with essential hypertension plus peripheral vascular disease (PVD) and matched them for age, gender, body mass index, and smoking habits with 11 patients with uncomplicated essential hypertension (UH) and 11 healthy controls. ⋯ Because many of the biohumoral variables assessed were mutually intercorrelated, they were entered in a multivariate analysis to assess their contribution in explaining IMTmax variability. sVCAM-1 remained the only independent predictor of IMTmax and totally abolished the contribution of other variables to IMTmax variability. Thus, sVCAM-1 is a good biohumoral correlate of overt atherosclerosis, independent of underlying hypertension, and may be an in vivo marker of endothelial activation. Its potential value as a surrogate for global risk assessment and its behavior in intervention studies remain to be determined.