Plasma mannose as a novel marker of myocardial infarction across different glycaemic states: a case control study

Background: Plasma mannose, an emerging novel biomarker of insulin resistance, is associated with both diabetes mellitus and coronary atherosclerosis, but the relationship between mannose concentrations and myocardial infarction (MI) across different glycaemic states remains to be elucidated. The aim of this study was to investigate the independent association between mannose and a first MI in a group of subjects characterized according to their glycaemic state.

Methods: Fasting plasma mannose concentrations were analysed in 777 patients 6-10 weeks after a first myocardial infarction and in 770 matched controls by means of high-performance liquid chromatography coupled to tandem mass spectrometry. Participants without known diabetes mellitus were categorized by an oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) as having normal glucose tolerance (NGT, n = 1045), impaired glucose tolerance (IGT, n = 246) or newly detected type 2 diabetes (T2DM, n = 112). The association between mannose and MI was investigated across these glycaemic states by logistic regression.

Results: Mannose levels increased across the glycaemic states (p < 0.0001) and were significantly associated with a first MI in the whole study population (odds ratio, OR: 2.2; 95% CI 1.4 to - 3.5). Considering the different subgroups separately, the association persisted only in subjects with NGT (adjusted OR: 2.0; 95% CI 1.2-3.6), but not in subgroups with glucose perturbations (adjusted OR: 1.8, 95% CI 0.8-3.7).

Conclusions: Mannose concentrations increased across worsening levels of glucose perturbations but were independently associated with a first MI only in NGT individuals. Thus, mannose might be a novel, independent risk marker for MI, possibly targeted for the early management of previously unidentified patients at high cardiovascular risk.