ORIGINAL ARTICLE  AORTIC DISEASE Free access

International Angiology 2019 October;38(5):410-7

DOI: 10.23736/S0392-9590.19.04222-6

Copyright © 2019 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

language: English

Positive association between abdominal aortic diameter and serum collagen XVIII levels

Mária RAŠIOVÁ ^{1, 2} ✉, Ľudmila FARKAŠOVÁ ¹, Martin KOŠČO ¹, Matej MOŠČOVIČ ¹, Ľubomír ŠPAK ³, Darina PETRÁŠOVÁ ⁴, Ivan TKÁČ ²

¹ Department of Angiology, Faculty of Medicine, East Slovak Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases, Šafárik University, Košice, Slovakia; ² Department of Internal Medicine 4, Faculty of Medicine, Šafárik University, Košice, Slovakia; ³ Department of Interventional Angiology, Štefan Kukura Hospital, Michalovce, Slovakia; ⁴ Laboratory of Research Biomodels, Faculty of Medicine, Šafárik University, Košice, Slovakia

BACKGROUND: The identification of abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) biomarker offers a perspective to determine disease progress and rupture risk. The aim of our study was to evaluate the association between selected circulating biomarkers and diameter of abdominal aorta.
METHODS: One hundred and two patients (88 men and 14 women) with mean age 70.0±8.7 years were included in a single center cross-sectional study conducted between February 2016 and October, 2018. AAA was defined as subrenal aortic dilatation ≥3 cm. Serum biomarker concentrations (insulin-like growth factor-1, peroxiredoxin-1, collagen IV, collagen XVIII) were measured by an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Adjustments including variables with different baseline distribution at univariate level with P<0.1 (age, body mass index, coronary artery disease, fibrinogen) were performed in multivariate models.
RESULTS: Higher collagen XVIII was found in AAA patients in comparison with the control group of patients (39.5 vs. 25.0 ng/mL; P=0.002). Diameter of abdominal aorta was positively associated with collagen XVIII levels in univariate (B=0.16; P=0.004), and in multivariate analysis (B=0.14; P=0.027), i.e. increase in collagen XVIII by 1 ng/mL corresponded to an increase in abdominal aortic diameter by 0.14 mm. Patients with serum collagen XVIII levels in the third tertile (˃47 ng/mL) had 4.23 times higher risk of AAA compared to patients with collagen XVIII levels in the first and second tertiles (OR 4.23; 95% CI 1.42-11.6; P=0.020). No association was found between other examined biomarkers and abdominal aortic diameter.
CONCLUSIONS: Diameter of abdominal aorta was positively associated with serum collagen XVIII level.

KEY WORDS: Aortic aneurysm, abdominal; Collagen type XVIII; Biomarkers