Circulating Level of Monocyte Chemoattractant Protein-1 and Risk of Coronary Artery Disease: A Case-Control and Mendelian Randomization Study

Genetic Evidence for the Causal Association of Circulating Cytokines and Growth Factors With Coronary Artery Disease

BACKGROUND

Observational studies have suggested the potential role of inflammatory factors in the risk of coronary artery disease (CAD). We aimed to perform 2-sample Mendelian randomization (MR) analyses to assess the causal association between circulating cytokines/growth factors and CAD.

METHODS AND RESULTS

The instrumental variables for 28 circulating cytokines and growth factors were identified from a genome-wide association study of 8293 European participants. Summary-level data on CAD were derived from a large genome-wide association study (71 602 cases and 260 875 controls). We used the inverse-variance-weighted and Wald ratio methods as our main MR methods. The weighted median, simple median, maximum likelihood, MR pleiotropy residual sum and outlier, and MR-Egger methods were performed as sensitivity analyses. Genetic colocalization analyses were conducted to validate the robustness of our MR findings. We found that genetically predicted circulating levels of macrophage migration inhibitory factor were associated with an increased risk of CAD at the Bonferroni-adjusted level of significance (P<1.79×10-3). The odds ratio was 1.20 (95% CI, 1.08-1.33; P=6.83×10-4) per 1-SD increase in macrophage migration inhibitory factor. Colocalization analyses supported our MR findings. Additionally, we found suggestive evidence between the genetic effects of stem cell growth factor-β and the risk of CAD (odds ratio, 0.95 [95% CI, 0.91-0.98]; P=0.007).

CONCLUSIONS

Our findings suggested a risk-increasing effect of macrophage migration inhibitory factor level on the development of CAD. The roles of these inflammatory factors for CAD warrant further investigation.

Determining the association of inflammatory markers, cell-adhesion molecules, and endothelial dysfunction biomarkers with ACS in Indian population

The observational study aims to evaluate inflammatory markers, cell adhesion molecules (CAM) and endothelial dysfunction markers as biomarkers in Indian ACS patients with no conventional risk factors. The study population included 110 healthy individuals and 102 ACS patients without any history of conventional risk factors, except smoking and alcoholism, were included. Patient history, biochemical parameters and levels of biomarkers were estimated. ACS patients had a significant elevation in the circulatory levels of biomarkers, such as IL-6, TNF-α, MCP1, MMP9, VCAM1, ICAM1 and E-selectin. CAM, inflammatory and endothelial biomarkers could help devise strategies for early, effective treatment of ACS.

Short-term effects of allulose consumption on glucose homeostasis, metabolic parameters, incretin levels, and inflammatory markers in patients with type 2 diabetes: a double-blind, randomized, controlled crossover clinical trial

PURPOSE

Allulose is a rare monosaccharide with almost zero calories. There is no study of short-term allulose consumption in patients with type 2 diabetes (T2D). Thus, we aimed to study the effect of allulose consumption for 12 weeks on glucose homeostasis, lipid profile, body composition, incretin levels, and inflammatory markers in patients with T2D.

METHODS

A double-blind, randomized, controlled crossover study was conducted on sixteen patients with T2D. Patients were randomly assigned to allulose 7 g twice daily or aspartame 0.03 g twice daily for 12 weeks. After a 2-week washout, patients were crossed over to the other sweetener for an additional 12 weeks. Oral glucose tolerance tests, laboratory measurements, and dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry were conducted before and after each phase.

RESULTS

This study revealed that short-term allulose consumption exerted no significant effect on glucose homeostasis, incretin levels, or body composition but significantly increased MCP-1 levels (259 ± 101 pg/ml at baseline vs. 297 ± 108 pg/mL after 12 weeks of allulose, p = 0.002). High-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) significantly decreased from 51 ± 13 mg/dl at baseline to 41 ± 12 mg/dL after 12 weeks of allulose, p < 0.001.

CONCLUSION

Twelve weeks of allulose consumption had a neutral effect on glucose homeostasis, body composition, and incretin levels. Additionally, it decreased HDL-C levels and increased MCP-1 levels.

TRIAL REGISTRATION

This trial was retrospectively registered on the Thai Clinical Trials Registry (TCTR20220516006) on December 5, 2022.

Association of Genetic Variants in miR-217 Gene with Risk of Coronary Artery Disease: A Case-Control Study

Objective

To evaluate the associations of genetic variants of the miR-217 gene with coronary artery disease (CAD) risk, as well as plasma level of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF).

Methods

A case-control study with 498 CAD patients and 499 frequency-matched healthy controls was conducted to evaluate the associations of four tagSNPs of the miR-217 gene, including rs6724872, rs4999828, rs10206823, and rs41291177, with CAD risk and plasma level of VEGF.

Results

SNP rs6724872 and rs4999828 were significantly associated with increased risk of CAD (P value was smaller than 0.05 even after Bonferroni multiple adjustment). Compared with the G allele, C allele of rs6724872 was significantly associated with 1.73-fold increased risk of CAD (95% CI: 1.25-2.39; P = 0.001). While C allele of rs4999828 was significantly associated with 1.75-fold increased risk of CAD, compared with T allele (95% CI: 1.34-2.29; P = 4 × 10^-5). Meanwhile, rs6724872 and rs4999828 were also significantly associated with higher level of VEGF (P < 0.001).

Conclusion

These findings highlighted the important role of genetic variants of the miR-217 gene in the pathogenesis of CAD and potential targets for intervention.