Association of plasma protein C levels and coronary artery disease in men

Several studies have shown the risk factor causes of coronary heart disease. In this study we tested the hypothesis that plasma protein C level might be used as a biomarker for coronary heart disease and myocardial infarction. The study included 60 men that were classified into 3 groups according to clinical examination; group I set as healthy control group, group II set as patients with ischemic heart disease and group III set as patients suffering from myocardial infarction. Different parameters were measured including, coagulation factor prothrombin time, partial thromboplastin time, fibrinogen and protein C. The activity of the cardiac enzymes (creatine phosphokinase, creatine phosphokinase-MB and lactate dehydrogenase) was also measured. Finally, lipids profile (total lipids, phospholipids, triacylglycerol, total cholesterol, low density lipoprotein cholesterone (LDL-C) and high density lipoprotein (HDL-C) were measured. The results demonstrate significant decrease level of protein C and prothrombin concentration (%) in ischemic heart disease and in myocardial infarction (MI) groups, when compared to the control group. Meanwhile, MI group showed more significant decrease comparing to IHD. Plasma protein C might serve as a marker for coronary artery disease in men. Further studies are warranted to bolster the data and to identify pathogenesis links between innate immune system activation and atherosclerosis.