Analysis of serum hs-CRP and interleukin-18 levels in patients with coronary heart disease

Objective To investigate the levels of serum hypersensitive C-reactive protein (hsCRP) and interleukin-18(IL-18) in patients with coronary heart disease(CHD).Methods Two hundred and two patients with CHD confirmed by coronary angiography were selected,including 55 cases of stable angina pectoris(SAP),85 cases of unstable angina pectoris(UAP) and 62 cases of acute myocardial infarction(AMI).At the same time,37 cases without CHD confirmed by coronary angiography were selected as control.ELISA was used to detect the serum levels of hs-CRP and IL-18,and Gensini score was recorded.Results There were significant differences in serum levels of hs-CRP,IL-18 among the four groups(P ＜0.05).The serum levels of hs-CRP and IL-18 significantly increased in AMI group compared with those of control group,SAP group and UAP group (P ＜ 0.05).Liner regression showed that the serum hs-CRP level of CHD patients was positively correlated with number of diseased coronary vessels and Gensini score(r =0.358,P ＜0.05; r =0.445,P ＜0.05); and the serum IL-18 level of CHD patients was aslo positively correlated with number of diseased coronary vessels and Gensini score (r =0.657,P ＜ 0.05 ; r =0.542,P ＜ 0.05) ; the hs-CRP level was positively correlated with IL-18 level in patients with CHD(r =0.714,P ＜0.01).Conclusions Hs-CRP and IL-18 may play important roles in the development of CHD. Key words: Coronary heart disease;  Hypersensitive C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) ;  Interleukin-18 (IL-18)