COX-2, HPSE And BDNF To Coronary Atherosclerotic Plaque Stabilization

BackgroundRupture of unstable coronary atherosclerotic plaque and succeeding thrombosis are mainly responsible for acute coronary syndrome . It is believed that rupture of unstable coronary atherosclerotic plaque is mainly responsible for it, not the narrows of the coronary artery. The concept that atherosclerosis is a inflammation makes COX-2 play an important roll in AS. Thus, the research of COX-2 in the stability atherosclerotic plaque provides an essential goal to stable the atherosclerotic plaque and the prevention from acute coronary syndrome. At present, several important transcription factors and chemokines ,such as COX-2, HPSE and BDNF have been found in atherosclerotic region and it has been proved that there exist relations among them. However, their effects on plaque stability arerarely studied. PurposeThe present study was designed to detect the difference of the COX-2,HPSE and BDNF's expression between unstable plaque and stable plaque ,and make it more clear how they act on plaque stability. Materials and methodsSpecimens of coronary arteries were obtained at autopsy from 36patients with acute coronary syndromes and stable angina. Plaque morphology was evaluated by using hematoxylin and eosin stained slides. Then, 572 tissue blocks of late-stage lesions were classified into two groups as either unstable(n=149) or stable(n=423) according to the pathological feature of the plaques, 40 blocks selected randomly from each group were immunohistochemically investigated by using monoclonal orpolyclonal antibodies against COX-2 , HPSE and BDNF. Next,computeraided planimeter was used in quantitative analysis.Resultsl.The immunoreactive positive areas of COX-2 , HPSE and BDNF in the shoulder region of unstable plaques were significantly increased than that in stable plaques(COX-2: 89759.30±36516.81 vs 48537.65±29617.76, i><0.001 HPSE:77850.93± 13163.50 vs 37858.90+ 16501.27;P<0.001);BDNF-.80764.15±20841.38 vs 33483.38+ 14106.41;i><0.001);2. There was significantly positive relation between BDNF and COX-2(r= 0.245;P=0.001);Conclusions1, These findings suggest that in coronary atherosclerotic plaqueCOX-2, HPSE and BDNF are closely associated with the stability of the plaques;2, That BDNF can enhance the expression of COX-2 leads to theenlargement of the artery atherosclerotic plague inflammation;therefore, the plague gets more unstable.