Circulating soluble lectin-like oxidized low-density lipoprotein receptor-1 levels are associated with proximal/middle segment of the LAD lesions in patients with stable coronary artery disease

Atherosclerosis is the main underlying pathology of coronary artery disease (CAD), which is the leading cause of mortality worldwide. Lectin-like oxidized low-density lipoprotein receptor-1 (LOX-1) is involved in multiple phases of vascular dysfunction, including endothelial dysfunction, atherosclerotic plaque formation, and destabilization. The purpose of the current study was to determine whether soluble LOX-1 is associated with proximal/mid and distal segment of the left anterior descending (LAD) artery lesion in patients with stable CAD. Sixty-four patients with proximal/mid segment of the LAD lesions and 51 patients with distal segments of the LAD lesions were included in this study. Soluble LOX-1 levels were measured in all study subjects. Baseline characteristics of the two groups were similar. In stable CAD, patients with proximal/middle segment of the LAD lesions had significantly higher circulating soluble LOX-1 levels than patients with distal segments of the LAD lesions (1.07 +/- A 0.33 vs. 0.70 +/- A 0.17 ng/ml, p < 0.001). No correlation was found between plasma-soluble LOX-1 levels and fasting glucose, lipid profile. For predicting proximal/middle LAD lesions, the highest specificity (95,2%) and sensitivity (53,8%) levels were obtained at the cut-off value of 0.68. Our study demonstrated that serum-soluble LOX-1 levels were associated with proximal/mid segment of the LAD lesions. Furthermore, this study suggested soluble LOX-1 might be a useful biomarker of coronary plaque vulnerability in patients with stable CAD. Soluble LOX-1, the novel biochemical marker, may provide new insights into not only risk stratification but also therapeutic strategy for CAD.