[Vimentin as a potential marker of restenosis after endovascular procedures on lower extremity arteries]

Methods of endovascular treatment of patients with arterial lesions expand the possibilities for limb salvage. However, one of the main reasons for the reduced long-term effectiveness of these surgical interventions is restenosis. Endothelial-mesenchymal transition is considered one of the reasons for the development of restenosis.

The aim was to study the possibilities of predicting the development of restenosis after endovascular interventions on the main arteries of the lower extremities in patients with atherosclerotic peripheral artery disease (PAD) by assessing the levels of endothelial-to-mesenchymal transition biomarkers.

The study included 50 patients divided into groups depending on treatment (operative or conservative). The mean age of the patients in the surgical group was 66.1±8.83 years and that in the conservative group 70±8.62 years. The groups were comparable in terms of gender, stage of the disease, side of the lesion, concomitant diseases and baseline values of the ankle-brachial index (ABI). The control group additionally comprised 10 apparently healthy volunteers with neither PAD nor other identified diseases. Peripheral venous blood was collected to assess the level of EndMT markers (endothelial markers - PECAM-1, vWF, mesenchymal markers - vimentin, alpha-Anti-Actin Alpha 2 - antiACTIN, and integral EndMT marker - TGF-b1) in the apparently healthy subjects, as well as patients with stage IIb-IV PAD according to the classification of A.V. Pokrovsky-Fontaine before and after endovascular reconstructive interventions on the arteries of the lower extremities. All patients underwent duplex ultrasonography to assess restenosis at the site of the endovascular interventions performed, with the ABI also determined.

Decreased values of the ABI in the post-operative period were associated with elevated levels of vimentin (VIM). Vimentin concentration above 2.98 ng/ml was associated with the development of restenosis 3 months after endovascular surgery.

At this stage of the study, it is only possible to assess the role of the mesenchymal parameter vimentin as a potential marker for predicting the development of restenosis after endovascular interventions on lower extremity arteries.