High serum YKL-40 level positively correlates with coronary artery disease

Abstract

Aim: We investigated the predictive value of chitinase-like protein YKL-40 in coronary artery disease (CAD).

Patients: Serum YKL-40 levels in 116 CAD patients and 82 healthy controls were analyzed. Severity of CAD was evaluated using Gensini scores. Spearman's correlation was used to evaluate the correlation between Gensini scores and YKL-40 levels. The predictive value of YKL-40 was determined by receivers operating characteristic curve analysis.

Results: Serum YKL-40 levels were significantly elevated in CAD group as compared with control group. A positive correlation was found between the serum YKL-40 level and Gensini score. The optimum cut-off value of YKL-40 concentration was 127.7 ng/ml for distinguishing CAD patients from healthy controls with a 75.9% sensitivity and 57.3% specificity.

Conclusion: A positive correlation exists between YKL-40 levels and CAD, and YKL-40 might be a useful adjunct in the diagnosis of CAD.

Keywords: CAD; Gensini score; ROC curve; YKL-40; coronary artery disease (CAD); diagnosis; predictive value; sensitivity; serum; specificity.