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. 2018 Oct;24(7):1042-1049.
doi: 10.1177/1076029618764846. Epub 2018 Mar 21.

The Value of Big Endothelin-1 in the Assessment of the Severity of Coronary Artery Calcification

Fang Wang  1   2 , Tiewei Li  1   2 , Xiangfeng Cong  1 , Zhihui Hou  3 , Bin Lu  3 , Zhou Zhou  1 , Xi Chen  1
Affiliations

The Value of Big Endothelin-1 in the Assessment of the Severity of Coronary Artery Calcification

Fang Wang et al. Clin Appl Thromb Hemost. 2018 Oct.

Abstract

Progression of coronary artery calcification (CAC) was significantly associated with all-cause mortality, and high coronary artery calcium score (CACS) portends a particularly high risk of cardiovascular events. But how often one should rescan is still an unanswered question. Preliminary screening by testing circulating biomarker may be an alternative before repeat computed tomography (CT) scan. The aim of this study was to investigate the value of big endothelin-1 (bigET-1), the precursor of endothelin-1 (ET-1), in predicting the severity of CAC. A total of 428 consecutively patients who performed coronary computed tomography angiography (CCTA) due to chest pain in Fuwai Hospital were included in the study. The clinical characteristics, CACS, and laboratory data were collected, and plasma bigET-1 was detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The bigET-1 was positively correlated with the CACS ( r = .232, P < .001), and the prevalence of CACS >400 increased significantly in the highest bigET-1 tertile than the lowest tertile. Multivariate analysis showed that bigET-1was the independent predictor of the presence of CACS >400 (odds ratio [OR] = 1.721, 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.002-2.956, P = .049). The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis showed that the optimal cutoff value of bigET-1 for predicting CACS >400 was 0.38 pmol/L, with a sensitivity of 59% and specificity of 68% (area under curve [AUC] = 0.65, 95% CI, 0.58-0.72, P < .001). The present study demonstrated that the circulating bigET-1 was valuable in the assessment of the severity of CAC.

Keywords: atherosclerosis; big endothelin-1; coronary artery calcium score.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of Conflicting Interests: The author(s) declared no potential conflict of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
The levels of bigET-1 and other biomarkers according to the CACS. CACS indicates coronary artery calcium score; BigET-1, big endothelin-1; URIC, uric acid; BUN, blood urea nitrogen; CREA, creatinine.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
The correlation of bigET-1 with CACS, BUN, CREA, TC, LDL-C and URIC. BigET-1 indicates big endothelin-1; CACS, coronary artery calcium score; BUN, blood urea nitrogen; CREA, creatinine; TC, total cholesterol; LDL-C, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol; URIC, uric acid.
Figure 3.
Figure 3.
Percentage of patients with CACS = 0, CACS 1 to 100, CACS 101 to 400 and CACS >400 according to bigET-1 tertiles. BigET-1 indicates big endothelin-1; CACS, coronary artery calcium score.
Figure 4.
Figure 4.
The ROC curve of bigET-1 in predicting CACS >400. ROC indicates receiver operating characteristic; BigET-1, big endothelin-1; AUC, area under the curve.
Figure 5.
Figure 5.
Percentage of patients with CACS = 0, CACS 1 to 100, CACS 101 to 400 and CACS >400 according to the level of bigET-1. CACS indicates coronary artery calcium score; BigET-1, big endothelin-1.
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