Inflammatory cytokines and risk of coronary heart disease: new prospective study and updated meta-analysis

Abstract

Several different pro-inflammatory cytokines are each associated with CHD risk independent of conventional risk factors and in an approximately log-linear manner. The findings lend support to the inflammation hypothesis in vascular disease, but further studies are needed to assess causality.

Pretenders and Contenders: Inflammation, C‐Reactive Protein, and Interleukin‐6

“…Median interleukin‐6 concentrations in both cohorts were higher, as expected, than those seen in cohorts free of overt CVD, where baseline interleukin‐6 concentrations tend to average in the 1.3 to 1.6 pg/mL range 1, 2, 3. More surprising is that the median interleukin‐6 concentration in the SOLID‐TIMI 52 population of patients with recent ACS was similar to, and not higher than, that in the SOLID‐TIMI 52 population of patients with stable CHD (2.1 versus 2.0 pg/mL, respectively).…”

Galectin-3 in Patients with Acute Heart Failure: Preliminary Report on First Polish Experience

“…Additionally, as fibrosis and inflammatory processes substantially precede the onset of HF, the future potential application of Gal-3 assessments may involve the identification of asymptomatic patients with active cardiac fibrosis and earlier use of targeted therapies to delay the clinical manifestation of the disease [22].…”

Interleukin-18 as a Therapeutic Target in Acute Myocardial Infarction and Heart Failure

“…The acute cardiodepressant effect of IL-18 suggests that IL-18 blockade may represent a valuable treatment for acute decompensated or chronic symptomatic HF. The effects of IL-18 appear to affect both systolic and diastolic function (51,52). Preliminary data with IL-1 blockade show that IL-1 activity may be a modifiable factor in patients with HF (1,3,94,96,97) and the mechanistic links between IL-18 and IL-1 suggest that IL-18 blockade may have similar beneficial effects (1,74).…”

“…A recent study conducted in the community-based cohort of Framingham, however, reported no significant correlations between the levels of IL-18 and subclinical aortic atherosclerosis (47). High serum levels of IL-18 were associated with an increased risk of developing cardiovascular disease (CVD) in the general population, increased mortality in HF patients and development of congestive HF and AMI in patients with acute coronary syndromes (48)(49)(50)(51)(52).…”