Cardiovascular disease is most frequently caused by the development and progression of atherosclerosis. When coronary arteries are afflicted, and the stenoses caused by atherosclerotic plaques are severe enough, the metabolic supply-and-offer balance is disturbed, leading to myocardial ischemia. If atherosclerotic plaques become unstable and local thrombosis develops, a myocardial infarction occurs. Sometimes, myocardial ischemia and infarction may result in significant and irreversible heart failure. To prevent severe complications, such as acute coronary syndromes and ischemia-related heart failure, extensive efforts have been made for developing biomarkers that would help identify patients at increased risk for cardiovascular events.
Obesity is known to be associated with a systemic proinflammatory status by maintaining a chronic low-grade inflammation and thus contributing to atherogenesis [3]. Jia et al. explored the relationship between body weight, expressed by body mass index (BMI) and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) in an observational cohort study including 478 patients with unstable angina undergoing elective percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) [4]. Patients meeting the composite endpoint of MACE (major adverse CV events, defined as CV death, heart failure, stroke, myocardial infarction, or repeated revascularization) had a significantly higher hs-CRP (p = 0.033).
A study of 1754 patients from the Utrecht Coronary Biobank aimed to analyze the association of baseline monocyte to lymphocyte ratio (MLR) with baseline characteristics of patients who underwent coronary angiography, as well as baseline MLR association with future HF hospitalization [19]. At baseline, univariate analysis showed that a 1-point increase in logMLR was associated with unstable angina vs. stable CAD, MI vs. stable CAD, and 1-category poorer EF [19]. In multivariate analysis, MLR was associated only with unstable angina vs. stable CAD. Moreover, high MLR predicted HF hospitalization over a follow-up period of 484 days [19]. A combined monocyte to HDL–cholesterol ratio (MHR) was also found to have predictive value in a study of 231 patients admitted with STEMI for the first time, who underwent primary PCI in the first 12 h [20]. MHR at the time of admission was higher in patients with adverse cardiac remodeling at the 6-month follow-up [20].
Platelet-related indices may also have predictive value in CHD patients. A study of 5886 patients admitted with STEMI [21] showed that, after a 81.6-month follow-up, adjusted all-cause mortality was higher in patients with a higher platelet to lymphocyte ratio (PLR). In adjusted analysis, a higher PLR quartile (2nd to 4th) was also predictive for recurrent MI, HF, and ischemic stroke [21].
In acute HFpEF patients, the addition of both NLR on admission and absolute NLR trajectory (admission to discharge) improved the model combining GWTG-HF (Get With the Guidelines–Heart Failure) score and NT-proBNP as well as GWTG-HF score alone, enhancing its 1-year, 2-year, and 3-year predictive value for mortality [22]. MLR modestly, but significantly, improved risk prediction in patients undergoing coronary angiography when added to the full HF prediction model [19].
APG was shown to be associated with in-hospital outcomes. A study of 667 patients admitted with first STEMI reported that APG ≥11.1 mmol/L was the second-best predictor of in-hospital mortality after cardiac arrest [23]. Similarly, a study of 1168 Black Africans with ACS [24] reported that elevated APG was associated with in-hospital mortality at an even lower threshold (>7.8 mmol/L). However, subgroup analysis revealed that APG predicted in-hospital mortality only in patients without diabetes (n = 836) [24]. APG was also shown to be associated with clinical outcomes after patient discharge following ACS [24]. A large study of 5309 STEMI and NSTEMI patients treated with PCI investigated the association of APG with a medium-term composite CV outcome (first of mortality, MI, HF, stroke) within 180 days from admission [25]. In patients without known diabetes, grouped based on APG according to WHO criteria, the incidence of the composite outcome increased with increasing APG group [25]. Higher APG was also predictive for the composite outcome in patients with diabetes [25]. For longer-term prediction of outcomes, a study of 417 patients who were admitted with ACS and treated by PCI reported that APG >10 mmol/L was predictive for MACCEs over a 39-month period (cardiac death, recurrent ACS, revascularized angina, acute decompensated HF, or stroke) [26].
The study of 417 patients mentioned above also investigated the predictive value of glycemic variability in ACS patients treated by PCI [26]. Using continuous glucose monitoring for at least 24 h, the study showed that the mean amplitude of glycemic excursion (MAGE) was correlated with MACCEs over a mean follow-up period of 39 months [26]. In a multivariate model, including high MAGE, glucose >10 mmol/L, and HbA1c, only MAGE remained predictive for MACCEs. High MAGE remained significantly associated with MACCEs even after multivessel disease, HDL-C, BNP, and hs-CRP were added to the model [26].
A study of two age- and gender-matched cohorts of patients with either ACS or HF (n = 102 for each) investigated the 5-year predictive role of AGEs and their receptors (RAGE and sRAGE—soluble form) for cardiac death, non-fatal MI, or HF readmission [29]. ROC analysis revealed that fluorescent AGE (AUC 0.703 [0.597–0.809], p = 0.001), sRAGE (AUC 0.623 [0.512–0.734], p = 0.038) and endogenous secretory (es)RAGE (AUC 0.621 [0.510–0.713], p = 0.042), but not cleaved RAGE were predictive for cardiac death in the HF cohort [29].
Aldosterone is known to contribute to the pathophysiology of HF, and many drugs for HF target the renin–angiotensin–aldosterone system [36]. Elevated cortisol is known to promote the development of risk factors for atherosclerosis, such as truncal obesity, hyperinsulinemia, hyperglycemia, insulin resistance, and dyslipidemia [37]. Despite their recognized involvement in CVD disease, these hormones are not routinely used as markers of prognosis.
Osteonectin is a matrix cellular protein which is involved in collagen processing after synthesis in the HF myocardium and in modulating cell adhesion, growth factor activity, and cell cycle [42]. Phosphate is a main structural component of nucleic acids, adenosine triphosphate, and the cell membrane and is also involved in cellular signaling and mineral metabolism. Excess phosphate can have deleterious effects on the CV system, promoting endothelial dysfunction, vascular calcification, and myocardial hypertrophy [43]. In clinical settings, data from two Swedish registries, namely the SWEDEHEART registry and the SCREAM project, suggest the unfavorable effect of hyperphosphatemia on CV outcomes [43]. Xu H. et al. identified 2547 patients from the two registries who were admitted with a suspicion of ACS and reported that higher serum phosphate during hospitalization was associated with in-hospital CV outcomes [43]. Patients with serum phosphate ≥ 1.3 mmol/L (75th percentile) exhibited a higher risk of in-hospital mortality, while patients with serum phosphate ≥ 2.1 mmol/L (95th percentile) had an increased risk for in-hospital events (composite of MI reinfarction, cardiogenic shock, resuscitated cardiac arrest, atrial fibrillation, or atrioventricular block) and in-hospital mortality. Elevated serum phosphate was also predictive for 1-year post-discharge CVD events and mortality [43].
A study of 2763 participants in the Framingham Heart Study investigated possible associations between HF incidence and 398 circulating extracellular RNAs (ex-RNA) from plasma over a median follow-up of 7.7 years [44]. A total of 12 ex-RNAs were associated with LV mass and at least one other echocardiographic phenotype (left atrial size or LV end-diastolic volume), of which three miRs were associated with lower risk of incident HF (about 15% risk reduction/2-fold increase) after adjustment for clinical variables: miR-20a-5p (HR 0.86 [0.73–1.00], p = 0.047), miR-17–5p (HR 0.84 [0.72–0.99], p = 0.03), and miR-106b-5p (HR 0.85 [0.73–0.99], p = 0.04) [44].
A matched case–control study evaluated the association of proteomic biomarkers with CV outcomes in 455 controls and 485 cases with CAD and HFrEF after an episode of worsening HF [45]. A total of 276 plasma proteins were analyzed, resulting in 49 proteins significantly associated with clinical outcomes. Seven of these proteins had an adjusted false discovery rate < 0.001: BNP, NT-proBNP, FGF23, growth differentiation factor 15 (GDF15), T-cell immunoglobulin, and mucin domain containing 4 (TIMD4), spondin 1 (SPON1), and pulmonary surfactant-associated protein D (PSP-D). Neither of these proteins were associated with individual clinical events (HF hospitalization, sudden cardiac death, and combined MI or stroke) [45]. Therefore, these proteins were considered strong but indiscriminate predictors of diverse CV events. The addition of these biomarkers to a clinical model significantly improved its predictive value [45].
Baseline and 1-month changes in big endothelin-1 levels were shown to be associated with combined CV death and hospitalization for worsening HF in patients with LV dysfunction after recent MI [47]. Mid-regional pro-adrenomedullin (MR-proADM) is involved in vascular permeability and microcirculation stabilization by regulating the endothelial barrier [48]. MR-proADM was shown to be associated with long-term mortality and HF in patients admitted with STEMI [49] and could be a potentially useful biomarker for discriminating type 1 from type 2 MI on admission [50]. YKL-40 is a mammalian chitinase-like protein considered a marker of endothelial dysfunction and inflammation [51]. Elevated levels of serum YKL-40 were shown to predict long-term MACE in both STEMI patients treated by primary PCI [52] and hypertensive patients [53].
Superoxide dismutase (SOD), nitrite/nitrate ratio, neopterin, and ferric-reducing ability of plasma were reported as prognostic factors for all-cause mortality and HF hospitalization in patients with STEMI treated by primary PCI [54]. Moreover, SOD and nitrite/nitrate markers added predictive value to the GRACE risk score [54]. Additionally, SOD, nitric oxide (NO), and neopterin were reported to be predictors of acute kidney injury in patients admitted with STEMI and treated with PCI [55]. A decreased level of biological antioxidant potential at 6 months after a PCI-treated STEMI, was shown to be an independent predictor of long-term CV events [56]. The serial monitoring of antioxidant capacity may serve as a predictor of CV outcomes in STEMI patients.
Serum-activated aspartic lysosomal endopeptidase cathepsin D (Cathepsin D) levels after primary PCI for STEMI were decreased in patients with post-STEMI new-onset cardiac dysfunction [57]. Lower levels of cathepsin D were associated with MACE at the 6-month follow-up post-STEMI [57]. Patients with higher levels of nardilysin (n-arginine dibasic convertase, a type of metalloendopeptidase) at admission for STEMI were shown to be at increased risk for future all-cause mortality [58]. Higher neprilysin (also known as CD10 or common acute lymphoblastic leukemia antigen—CALLA) levels were associated with stunned myocardium early after STEMI, with better improvement of LVEF at follow-up [59]. Serum matrix metalloproteinase 9 (MMP-9) is a candidate biomarker for the early discrimination of MI from unstable angina and a predictor of poor clinical outcomes in patients with ACS [60].
This entry is adapted from the peer-reviewed paper 10.3390/life13010230