Selenoprotein-P Deficiency Predicts Cardiovascular Disease and Death

Selenoprotein-P (SELENOP) is the main carrier of selenium to target organs and reduces tissue oxidative stress both directly and by delivering selenium to protective selenoproteins. We tested if the plasma concentration of SELENOP predicts cardiovascular morbidity and mortality in the primary preventive setting. SELENOP was measured from the baseline exam in 2002-2006 of the Malmö Preventive Project, a population-based prospective cohort study, using a validated ELISA. Quintiles of SELENOP concentration were related to the risk of all-cause mortality, cardiovascular mortality, and a first cardiovascular event in 4366 subjects during a median (interquartile range) follow-up time of 9.3 (8.3-11) years using Cox proportional Hazards Model adjusting for cardiovascular risk factors. Compared to subjects in the lowest quintile of SELENOP, the risk of all three endpoints was significantly lower in quintiles 2-5. The risk (multivariate adjusted hazard ratio, 95% CI) decreased gradually with the lowest risk in quintile 4 for all-cause mortality (0.57, 0.48-0.69) (p < 0.001), cardiovascular mortality (0.52, 0.37-0.72) (p < 0.001), and first cardiovascular event (0.56, 0.44-0.71) (p < 0.001). The lower risk of a first cardiovascular event in quintiles 2-5 as compared to quintile 1 was significant for both coronary artery disease and stroke. We conclude that the 20% with lowest SELENOP concentrations in a North European population without history of cardiovascular disease have markedly increased risk of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality, and preventive selenium supplementation studies stratified for these subjects are warranted.