The Role of Inflammatory Biomarkers in the Detection and Therapy of Atherosclerotic Disease.

The Role of Inflammatory Biomarkers in the Detection and Therapy of Atherosclerotic Disease. Curr Vasc Pharmacol. 2016 Jun 24; Authors: Poredos P, Jezovnik MK Abstract The estimation of risk for atherosclerotic cardiovascular (CV) events based only on the presence of classical risk factors is often insufficient. Therefore, efforts have been made to find markers that indicate the presence of preclinical or clinical disease. Inflammation mediates all stages of the disease, from initiation to the thrombotic complications of atherosclerosis. Raised levels of several circulating markers, particularly inflammatory mediators, have been reported in subjects with atherosclerosis. Increased risk for CV events is associated with increased levels of cytokines, cell-adhesion molecules, P-selectin and E-selectin, and acute phase reactants, such a high-sensitivity C-reactive protein and serum amyloid-A. Elevation of some of these markers predicts the outcomes of patients with acute coronary syndromes. However, because of their non-specificity, these biomarkers represent only a moderate added predicting value after considering conventional CV risk factors. Consequently, recent research has focused on the detection of vulnerable plaque, using vascular bed-specific biomarkers that can help identify individuals at highest risk and help guide how to intervene to prevent CV events. Considerable progress in the understanding of the role of the inflammatio...
Source: Current Vascular Pharmacology - Category: Drugs & Pharmacology Authors: Tags: Curr Vasc Pharmacol Source Type: research