Leukocyte, Haemostatic and Inflammatory Biomarkers Are Activated in Patients with Cardiovascular Disease (CVD): A Pilot Study

Background: Cardiovascular disease (CVD) provides a huge economic strain worldwide and is responsible for over 4 million deaths in Europe annually. Atherosclerosis, a key component of CVD, is recognised as an inflammatory process. This clinical pilot-study aimed to compare a range of selective leukocyte, haemostatic and inflammatory biomarkers in patients with CVD to healthy volunteers.
Patients and Methods: Fifty participants were recruited, 21 patients with CVD (due to atherosclerosis) and 29 healthy volunteers (with no history of CVD or diabetes). All participants for the study provided a non-fasting venous blood sample prior to analysis (n=50). The biomarkers measured included the Cluster of Differentiation 11b (CD11b) cell surface expression in monocytes and neutrophils, neutrophil elastase, fibrinogen, von Willebrand Factor (vWF), protein C and C-Reactive Protein (CRP).
Results: vWF levels were significantly raised in CVD patients (186.8±106.6 %vWF:Ag) compared to healthy volunteers (109.9±85.2 %vWF:Ag), (p<0.001). CRP was significantly raised (3mg/dL) in CVD patients compared to healthy volunteers (<3mg/dL), (p=0.036), with the CD11b cell surface expression in monocytes being higher (0.64±0.55 MFI) in CVD patients compared to healthy volunteers (0.37±0.44 MFI), (p<0.005). No differences were observed for protein C, fibrinogen, neutrophil elastase or neutrophil CD11b in CVD patients compared to healthy volunteers (p>0.05).
Discussion and Conclusion: Patients with CVD have elevated levels of vWF, CRP and CD11b cell surface expression (monocytes) compared to healthy volunteers. The results of this study support the premise of leukocyte, haemostatic and inflammatory involvement during CVD, and that measuring biomarkers such as vWF and leukocyte CD11b cell surface expression, may aid in the diagnosis and monitoring of patients with CVD. However, further large-scale prospective studies are required to fully understand the relationship between these markers and CVD.