Liu R, Sheng Q, Liang S, Zhao H. Peripheral blood soluble elastin and elastase as auxiliary diagnostic indicators for coronary artery ectasia.
Turk J Med Sci 2021;
51:1058-1064. [PMID:
33315345 PMCID:
PMC8283459 DOI:
10.3906/sag-1911-16]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/03/2019] [Accepted: 12/12/2020] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Background/aim
Damage to elastin fibres in coronary media might lead to coronary artery ectasia (CAE). This study evaluated whether CAE can be distinguished by detecting circulating soluble elastin (s-elastin), which is a degradation product of elastin fibres, and elastase, which is the main enzyme of elastin fibres.
Materials and methods
Fifty-eight patients with CAE, 58 with coronary heart disease (CHD) and 61 with relatively normal coronary arteries, were included. Circulating s-elastin and elastase were measured, and receiver operating characteristic curves were used to demonstrate their respective optimal cut-off values for predicting CAE.
Results
The concentrations of s-elastin and elastase were higher in the CAE group than in the CHD and relatively-normal-coronary groups. Their cut-off values for screening of CAE were 13.148 ng/mL and 25.549 ng/mL, respectively; for sensitivity of CAE were 0.690 and 0.773, respectively; and for specificity of CAE were 0.862 and 0.571, respectively. A combination of s-elastin and elastase in series (one of the two higher than its cut-off value) had a better sensitivity for screening for CAE, whereas their combination in parallel (both higher than their cut-off values) had a better specificity.
Conclusion
Circulating s-elastin and elastase are promising biomarkers for assisting in CAE diagnosis.
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