Vaspin in Coronary Artery Disease J Clin Med Res • 2012;4(2):110-113 A conventional coronary angiography was performed with Philips Integris 5000 equipment (Philips Medical Sys- tems, Best, Netherlands) in patients with stable angina pecto- ris. After obtaining images by standard approaches, each an- giogram was interpreted by two independent cardiologists. Eighty patients were divided into two groups according to the angiographic properties of their coronary angiographies. The CAD group consisted of 40 patients with at least 70% stenosis in any coronary artery the control group consisted of 40 patients with normal coronary anatomy. Continuous variables were given as mean ± SD; categor- ical variables were defined as a percentage. A value of P < 0.05 was considered to be significant. Comparisons between the groups were carried out using an independent- samples t- test. Correlation analyses were performed using the Pearson coefficient of correlation. SPSS 15.0 software was used for basic statistical analysis (Version 15, SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL, USA). Results The demographic properties of patients in two groups were summarized in Table 1. There were no significant difference between groups in age, gender, systolic blood pressure, dia- stolic blood pressure, body mass index, history of hyperten- sion, family history, hyperlipidemia and smoke (Table 1). The biochemical properties of the study patients were seen in Table 2. There were no difference between the groups in fasting glucose, hemoglobin, lipid profile, creatinin, so- dium, potassium and uric acid levels (Table 2). The serum VASPIN levels were significantly lower in CAD group than control group (256 ± 219 pg/mL and 472 ± 564 pg/mL, re- spectively, P = 0.02). There were statistically significant negative correlation between serum VASPIN levels and systolic blood pressure in control group patients (r:-0.349, P = 0.02). VASPIN levels were weakly negative correlated with diastolic blood pres- sure in control group (r = -0.299, P = 0.06). Discussion This is the first study demonstrating low serum VASPIN lev- els in coronary artery disease comparing to the age-matched people with normal coronary anatomy. We excluded the subjects with morbid obesity, diabetes mellitus, metabolic syndrome, heart failure, previous CAD history which might effect the VASPIN levels. According to our study we thought that VASPIN may have a protective role for coronary artery disease in people. There were many studies aimed to prevent CAD be- cause of the mortal complications of CAD and high cost of treatment. Even though it was known that inflammation has an important role in the both beginning and progression of atherosclerotic disease, the biochemical and cellular mecha- nisms are not clear [12]. The trigger of inflammation is not yet understood. In recent years it was shown that adipose tissue synthesis many bioactive substances participating into the circulation such as adiponectine [5], leptine [13], tumor necrosis factor-alfa [14], plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 [15], interleukine-6 [16], resistine [17], and various growth factors named adipocines. These substances have endo- crine and local effects in atherosclerosis [18]. VASPIN is a member of serine protease inhibitor family that have a regu- latuar role in glucose and lipid metabolism and its’ expres- sion in visseral adipose tissue in the peak concentration of insulin and obesity in Otsuka Long-Evans Tokushima Fatty (OLETF) rats was shown [8]. But its’ physiological role is stil unknown. Kadoglou et al. showed the lower vaspin levels in CAD compared with healty subjects [19], but in the present study we showed the lower VASPIN levels in CAD compared with age-matched subjects who had same symptoms with angio- graphically normal coronary anatomy. Austet et al. could not found any relation between serum VASPIN levels and ca- rotid artery stenosis but they demonstrated that lower serum VASPIN levels had correlation with recent ischemic events in patients with carotid artery stenosis [17]. So according to these studies, we think that the low serum VASPIN levels may be a predictor of atherosclerotic disease. Limitations Conclusion Large and long-term follow-up studies are needed. The small number of patients was the main limitation of the present study. Many risk factors of CAD such as diabetes mellitus, obesity might affect the VASPIN levels, so it was difficult to use it in all patients in the diagnosis of CAD. We showed the lower serum VASPIN levels in patients with CAD comparing to the gender and age-matched subjects with angiographically normal coronary anatomy. So low VASPIN levels may be an indicator of CAD. Acknowledgement No funding supported this study. References 1. Ross R. The pathogenesis of atherosclerosis: a perspec- tive for the 1990s. Nature. 1993;362(6423):801-809. 2. Hansson GK. Immune and inflammatory mechanisms 112 Articles © The authors | Journal compilation © J Clin Med Res and Elmer Press™ | www.jocmr.org