Blood Protein Detects Higher Risk of Cardiovascular Event

A blood protein is able to detect higher risk of cardiovascular events in people with chest pain originating from heart disease.

Higher levels of pregnancy-associated plasma protein A (PAPP-A) is associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular events in people with cardiac chest pain that developed as a result of heart disease and/or coronary artery disease.

Scientists at the University of Tubingen (Germany) conducted a study of 2,568 patients to determine if the presence of PAPP-A could help predict cardiovascular events. The study included patients who visited hospital with cardiac chest pain between December 2007 and April 2009. Serum PAPP-A values were analyzed using an automated immunofluorescent assay (Kryptor PAPP-A, Thermo Fisher Scientific, BRAHMS GmbH; Hennigsdorf, Germany).

More than half (52%) of patients had stable angina and the remaining 48% had acute coronary syndrome. The normal serum value for men and nonpregnant women is less than 14 mIU/L. Serum levels in patients who had cardiovascular events in the three months following initial hospital admission, such as a heart attack, myocardial infarction, stroke or death, were higher at 62 ± 156 mIU/L, compared with those who did not at 21 ± 23 mIU/L. The optimal prognostic cutoff value was a PAPP-A level of 34.6 mIU/L.

Stephan von Haehling MD PhD, a coauthor from the Charité Medical School (Berlin, Germany), said, "PAPP-A remained a significant independent predictor of major cardiovascular events and remained the strongest predictor of major cardiovascular events when we restricted the analysis to patients with stable angina, and when we restricted it to patients with acute coronary syndrome." The authors concluded that higher levels of serum PAPP-A were independently associated with an increased short-term risk of cardiovascular events in patients presenting with cardiac chest pain. The study was published on March 18, 2013, in the journal Canadian Medical Association Journal.

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University of Tubingen
Thermo Fisher Scientific
Charité Medical School