Why the study?
Is active cytomegalovirus infection more prevalent in patients with coronary artery disease compared to healthy controls?
Is active cytomegalovirus infection more prevalent in patients with coronary artery disease compared to healthy controls?
Active cytomegalovirus infection is significantly more prevalent in patients with acute coronary syndrome and stable angina compared to healthy controls, suggesting a potential role for CMV reactivation in atherosclerosis.
Active CMV infection was associated with CAD; hypothesis-generating for atherogenic role, needs prospective validation before clinical consideration.
OBJECTIVES: To study the prevalence of active cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection in patients with stable and unstable conditions of coronary artery disease (CAD). DESIGN: Forty patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS), 50 patients with stable angina and angiographically verified CAD (SA) and 50 clinically healthy controls were included. Monocytes were isolated from peripheral blood and CMV-RNA expression was determined by a nested RT-PCR assay. CMV IgM and IgG antibodies, interleukin-(IL)-6, IL-10 and CRP were measured in serum. RESULTS: The prevalence of active CMV infection was significantly higher in patients with ACS (15%) and in patients with SA (10%) compared with controls (2%) (p<0.001). The presence of an active CMV infection was associated with increased serum concentrations of IL-6. CONCLUSIONS: Active CMV infection was found to a larger extent in CAD patients than in healthy controls. The data indicate that CAD patients are more susceptible to reactivation of CMV and put new focus on the role of CMV in atherosclerosis.
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Gredmark et al. (2007) studied this question.
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