Inflammatory Biomarkers and Cardiovascular Risk Assessment. Current Knowledge and Future Perspectives

Title:Inflammatory Biomarkers and Cardiovascular Risk Assessment. Current Knowledge and Future Perspectives

Volume: 19 Issue: 21

Author(s): Elisavet Moutzouri, Vasilis Tsimihodimos and Alexandros D. Tselepis

Affiliation:

Keywords: Atherosclerosis, biomarkers, cardiovascular disease, hsCRP, inflammation, Lp-PLA₂, PAF-acetylhydrolase, sPLA₂.

Abstract: Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in the Western world. However, it appears that currently available risk assessment tools often underestimate risk, especially for patients in the intermediate-risk category. Considering the socioeconomic cost, it is imperative to correctly identify patients in the intermediate-risk category who would benefit from more aggressive treatment. A plethora of experimental and observational studies provide support that lipoprotein associated phospholipase A₂ (Lp- PLA₂) and secretory phospholipases A₂ (_sPLA₂) as well as high sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP) are useful biomarkers of cardiovascular risk. Particularly, Lp-PLA₂) has also been addressed as pharmacological target and we are eagerly awaiting the results of ongoing phase III clinical trials. In this review we discuss the current literature regarding the pros and cons of these biomarkers.

Cite this article as:

Moutzouri Elisavet, Tsimihodimos Vasilis and D. Tselepis Alexandros, Inflammatory Biomarkers and Cardiovascular Risk Assessment. Current Knowledge and Future Perspectives, Current Pharmaceutical Design 2013; 19 (21) . https://dx.doi.org/10.2174/13816128113199990307