Low Levels of Plasma Osteoglycin in Patients with Complex Coronary Lesions

Abstract

Aim: Osteoglycin is one of proteoglycans that are biologically active components of vascular extracellular matrix. However, the role of osteoglycin in atherosclerosis remains unclear.

Methods: We investigated plasma osteoglycin levels and the presence, severity, and lesion morphology of coronary artery disease (CAD) in 462 patients undergoing elective coronary angiography.

Results: Of 462 patients, 245 had CAD. Osteoglycin levels were higher in patients with CAD than without CAD (median 29.7 vs. 25.0 ng/mL, P＜0.05). However, osteoglycin levels did not differ among patients with one-vessel, two-vessel, or three-vessel disease (30.8, 30.6, and 29.4 ng/mL, respectively) and did not correlate with the number of stenotic segments. Among 245 CAD patients, 41 had complex coronary lesions, and 70 had total occlusion, of whom 67 had good collateralization. Between 70 patients with occlusion and 175 without occlusion, osteoglycin levels did not differ (30.4 vs. 29.5 ng/mL). Notably, osteoglycin levels were lower in 41 patients with complex lesions than in 204 without such lesions (24.2 vs. 31.6 ng/mL, P＜0.02). In multivariate analysis, osteoglycin levels were an independent factor for complex lesion but not for CAD. Odds ratio for complex lesion was 0.80 (95%CI=0.67-0.96) for each 10 ng/mL increase in osteoglycin levels (P＜0.02).

Conclusion: Although plasma osteoglycin levels were high in patients with CAD, they did not correlate with the severity of CAD and were not an independent factor for CAD. Notably, osteoglycin levels were low in patients with complex lesions and were a factor for complex lesions, suggesting that osteoglycin plays a role in coronary plaque stabilization.

Keywords: Coronary artery disease; Osteoglycin; Plaque stabilization.

Fig. 1.

Plasma osteoglycin levels and the presence and severity of CAD Plasma osteoglycin levels were higher in patients with CAD than in those without CAD (P < 0.05), but there was no marked difference in osteoglycin levels among the 1-VD, 2-VD, and 3-VD groups (P = 0.94). The central line represents the median, and the box represents the 25th to 75th percentiles. The whiskers represent the lowest and highest value in the 25th percentile minus 1.5 interquartile range (IQR) and 75th percentile plus 1.5 IQR, respectively.

Fig. 2.

Plasma osteoglycin levels and the presence of total occlusion and complex lesions Plasma osteoglycin levels did not differ between CAD patients with and without total occlusion (P = 0.85) (left). Notably, osteoglycin levels were significantly lower in CAD patients with complex lesions than in those without such lesions (P < 0.02). However, osteoglycin levels in patients with complex lesions were not different from those in patients without CAD (P = 0.38) (right). The central line represents the median, and the box represents the 25th to 75th percentiles. The whiskers represent the lowest and highest value in the 25th percentile minus 1.5 IQR and 75th percentile plus 1.5 IQR, respectively.