Relationship between serum oncostatin M levels and degree of coronary stenosis in patients with coronary artery disease.

BACKGROUND: Oncostatin M (OSM) is an inflammatory cytokine which has been found to be expressed at sites of atherosclerotic lesions. We sought to investigate whether serum OSM levels are associated with coronary stenosis in patients with coronary artery disease (CAD). METHODS: A total of 117 patients with CAD and 35 patients without CAD who underwent coronary angiography were enrolled in this study. Serum levels of OSM were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. The severity of CAD was assessed by the number of diseased vessels and coronary stenosis score. RESULTS: Serum OSM levels were significantly elevated in CAD patients compared with those without CAD. A stepwise increase in serum levels of OSM was also found depending on the number of > 50% coronary stenosis: median value 4.24 pg/mL (2.72 - 4.24) in 1-vessel disease, 6.44 pg/mL (4.87 - 10.09) in 2-vessel disease, and 7.83 pg/mL (5.41 - 10.37) in 3-vessel disease (p = 0.007 for trend). Correlation analysis showed coronary stenosis score positively correlated with age (r = 0.202, p = 0.029), current smoking (r = 0.210, p = 0.023), hypertension (r = 0.256, p = 0.005), TG (r = 0.408, p = 0.000), LDL-cholesterol (r = 0.325, p < 0.001), and hs-CRP (r = 0.307, p = 0.001), and correlated with OSM (r = 0.314, p < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Our data suggest that increased serum OSM levels are associated with the coronary stenosis score and that circulating levels of this chemokine may reflect the extent of coronary atherosclerosis.