Saturday 12 March 2016

PCSK9 as a CVD Biomarker for cardiovascular disease

PCSK9 as a CVD Biomarker for cardiovascular disease Approval of PCSK9 inhibitors as cholesterol-lowering drugs featured among the top stories in cardiology last year. Research has now ascribed another role for PCSK9 – as a biomarker for cardiovascular disease (CVD). A study published online in the journal Circulation says that serum proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin type 9 (PCSK9) levels predict risk of cardiovascular events even after adjustments for established CVD risk factors. The prospective cohort study enrolled 4,232 men and women aged 60 years and who were free of CVD and showed that subjects with higher baseline serum PCSK9 levels were at a much higher risk of developing incident CVD within 15 years of follow-up compared to those with the lowest levels of PCSK9. This association remained significant even after adjustment for other established CV risk factors such as hypertension, diabetes, obesity, LDL cholesterol. The main outcome was a composite of fatal or nonfatal MI, chronic ischemic heart disease, angina pectoris, sudden cardiac death, and fatal or nonfatal stroke. During the follow-up period, the participants experienced 491 total incident CVD events. The hazard ratio (HR), adjusted for sex, was 1.69 for incident CVD during follow-up for those with PCSK9 levels in the highest quartile (>122.3 ng/mL) vs those in the lowest quartile (<73.1 ng/mL). The fully adjusted HR was 1.48. Dr Karin Leander, from the Institute of Environmental Medicine, Stockholm, Sweden and the lead investigator said, “PCSK9 is an interesting biological marker. And if our results are confirmed by others, it seems it has a role in cardiovascular disease etiology beyond that of LDL-cholesterol regulation.”

3 comments:

  1. Good and informative. Only negative point the drug is injectable.

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  2. Good and informative. Only negative point the drug is injectable.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hi there, I found your blog via Google while searching for such kinda informative post and your post looks very interesting for me acls recertification

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