Aim: To elucidate the role of pentraxin-3 (PTX3) in atherosclerosis, we evaluated lipid and cardiovascular risk profiles according to the plasma PTX3 levels in subjects from the general population.
Methods: A sub-cohort of 2,000 subjects was randomly sampled from a Korean community-based cohort study. After excluding those with a medication history for dyslipidemia, 1,747 subjects (902 men and 845 women) were included in the final analyses. Linear and logistic regressions with adjustment for appropriate variables were performed.
Results: The PTX3 level was positively associated with the high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) level and negatively associated with the log-transformed triglyceride (TG) level, total cholesterol/HDL-C ratio, and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C)/HDL-C ratio (p＜0.05). Subjects with the highest PTX3 levels (≥ 1.17 ng/dl) exhibited a lower risk of metabolic syndrome (odds ratio [OR] 0.73, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.57-0.94), overweight/obesity (OR 0.65, 95% CI 0.50-0.83), increased TG level (OR 0.66, 95% CI 0.51-0.86), and increased HDL-C level (OR 0.67, 95% CI 0.51-0.88) compared to those with the lowest PTX3 level (＜0.7 ng/dl).
Conclusion: The circulating PTX3 level was inversely associated with metabolic syndrome, overweight/obesity, and parameters of dyslipidemia, suggesting a cardioprotective role of PTX3 in atherosclerosis.
Keywords: Atherosclerosis; Cardiovascular risk factor; Lipid; Pentraxin 3.