Blood serum atherogenicity and coronary artery calcification

The phenomenon of blood serum atherogenicity was described as the ability of human serum to induce lipid accumulation in cultured cells. The results of recent two-year prospective study in asymptomatic men provided the evidence for association between the changes in serum atherogenicity and dynamics of carotid intima-media thickness progression. The present study was undertaken to test the hypothesis that blood serum atherogenicity and its changes in dynamics may be associated with accumulation of coronary calcium in subclinical atherosclerosis. It was performed in 782 CHD-free participants of The Heinz Nixdorf RECALL (Risk Factors, Evaluation of Coronary Calcium and Lifestyle) Study, in whom blood samples have been taken at the baseline and at the end of 5-year follow-up. Opposite to the previous findings, the changes in serum atherogenicity did not correlate neither with the extent of coronary artery calcification, nor with the changes in Agatston CAC score. There was a moderate but significant rise in serum atherogenicity after 5-year followup period, and the same dynamics was observed for Agatston CAC score, but not for convenient lipid-related risk factors. The absence of association of the changes in serum atherogenicity with the changes in Agatston CAC score, along with previous findings, provides a point of view that serum-induced intracellular cholesterol accumulation is not related to the processes of calcium deposition in arterial wall, since the last one reflects the progression of already existing subclinical atherosclerotic lesions.