E-selectin and TFPI are associated with carotid intima-media thickness in stable coronary patients : the baseline findings of the MIAMI Study

Introduction. Inflammation plays an essential role in the initiation and progression of atherosclerosis and several inflammatory markers have been shown to be correlated with cardiovascular risk. C-IMT can be used as a marker of atherosclerosis in other vascular districts. The MIAMI study was designed to investigate the relationship between changes in C-IMT and changes of circulating markers of inflammation, thrombosis and endothelial dysfunction in a group of stable coronary patients treated for two years with moderate dosage of atorvastatin (20 mg/daily). We report here the cross-sectional relationships between the same variables measured at baseline visit. Methods. The MIAMI study is a prospective, open-label, multicenter clinical trial. Eighty-five subjects, free of statins from at least two months, were enrolled in the study. At time of enrollment, vascular cell adhesion molecules-1 (VCAM-1), intercellular adhesion molecules-1 (ICAM-1), E-selectin, interleukin-6 (IL-6), interleukin-8 (IL-8), tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha), high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP), tissue factor (TF), tissue factor pathway inhibitor (TFPI), von Willebrand factor (vWF), fibrinogen, total cholesterol, high- and low-density lipoprotein, triglycerides were measured, in parallel with C-IMT assessment. Results. In cross-sectional analyses marker of endothelial perturbation (i. e. E-selectin) and TFPI were more strongly correlated with atherosclerotic burden than markers of inflammation. Conclusions. The baseline picture in this study indicates that E-selectin and TFPI are linked with atherosclerotic burde