%0 Journal Article
%T Pentraxin 3: A Novel Biomarker for Inflammatory Cardiovascular Disease
%A Kenji Inoue
%A Tatsuhiko Kodama
%A Hiroyuki Daida
%J International Journal of Vascular Medicine
%D 2012
%I Hindawi Publishing Corporation
%R 10.1155/2012/657025
%X Numerous studies have recently examined the role of pentraxin 3 (PTX3) in clinical situations. The pentraxin family includes C-reactive protein (CRP); however, unlike CRP, PTX3 is expressed predominantly in atherosclerotic lesions that involve macrophages, neutrophils, dendritic cells, or smooth muscle cells. Interestingly, PTX3 gene expression in human endothelial cells is suppressed to a greater extent by pitavastatin than the expression of 6,000 other human genes that have been examined, suggesting that PTX3 may be a novel biomarker for inflammatory cardiovascular disease. The expression and involvement of PTX3 in cardiovascular diseases are discussed in this paper, along with the characteristics of PTX3 that make it a suitable biomarker; namely, that the physiological concentration is known and it is independent of other risk factors. The results discussed in this paper suggest that further investigations into the potential novel use of PTX3 as a biomarker for inflammatory cardiovascular disease should be undertaken. 1. Introduction Biomarkers are measurable and quantifiable biological parameters that can have an important impact on clinical situations. Ideal biomarkers are those that are associated with disease clinical endpoints in observational studies and clinical trials, and in some cases, they may even be used as surrogate endpoints. Biomarkers must also be both independent of established risk factors and recognized to be a factor in the disease for which they are a marker. The normal physiological expression of a potential biomarker must also be known in order to interpret results, as well as to generalize results to various population groups. Finally, potential biomarkers must also have the ability to improve overall prediction beyond that of traditional risk factors, while assays to detect them must have an acceptable cost and be subject to standardization in order to control for the variability of measurements [1]. Basic research over the past decades has identified numerous candidate genes and proteins as biomarkers for cardiovascular disease. In the cardiovascular field, such biomarkers are useful not only for diagnosis but also as indicators of disease trait (risk factor or risk marker), disease state (preclinical or clinical), or disease rate (progression or prognosis) [2]. One protein that has the potential to be a viable biomarker for inflammatory vascular disease is pentraxin 3 (PTX3). 2. Pentraxin 3 PTX3 is an evolutionarily conserved, multimeric acute phase inflammatory glycoprotein in the same family as the well-established
%U http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ijvm/2012/657025/