Lipid peroxidation and inflammatory molecules as markers of coronary artery disease

Oxidized low density lipoproteins (oxLDLs) may exert several pro-inflammatory effects that can contribute to the development of coronary artery disease (CAD). Evaluating a possible correlation between oxLDLs and clinical expression of CAD, we measured specific lipid peroxidation indices in healthy subjects and in patients at different clinical stages of CAD. We observed a slight, but not significant, increase in plasma content of cholesterol oxidation products, i.e. oxysterols, in all CAD patients, and a slight, but not significant, increase of 4-hydroxynonenal-protein adducts only in subjects with acute CAD. Moreover, CAD patients showed a plasma rise of specific inflammatory proteins, i.e. C-reactive protein, intercellular adhesion molecule-1, and interleukin-8, but not of monocyte chemotactic protein-1. These preliminary data, without excluding an involvement of oxidative stress and inflammation in CAD, do not show a strict correlation between relevant plasma markers, other than C-reactive protein, and acute phase of the disease.