Title:Negative Correlation between Neuregulin-4 and IL-9 Serum Levels in Patients with Coronary Artery Disease
Volume: 21
Issue: 11
Author(s): Hossein Farshidi, Nadereh Naderi, Hossein Montazerghaem, Narges Farshidi and Mahsa Rahimzadeh*
Affiliation:
- Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Medicine, Hormozgan University of Medical Sciences, Bandar Abbas,Iran
Keywords:
Coronary artery disease, IL-9, IL-5, IL-13, Neuregulin-4, case-control study.
Abstract:
Background: Neuregulin 4 (Nrg4) is a novel adipocytokine that has been proposed to play a
role in modulating energy metabolism and pathogeneses of atherosclerosis. However, no published
research is available about the mechanisms underlying the anti-atherosclerotic effect of Nrg4. Regarding
the close link between adipocytokines and the immune system, we wonder whether there is a relation
between Nrg4 and athero-protective cytokines. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship
between serum Nrg4 levels and type 2 cytokines in Iranian patients with coronary artery disease
(CAD).
Methods: In this case-control study, 125 CAD patients were compared to 55 healthy controls. The
serum concentrations of Nrg4, IL-5, IL-9, and IL-13 were measured using ELISA. The associations of
circulating Nrg4 and IL-5, IL-9, IL-13 were assessed using linear regression analyses.
Results: Serum concentration of IL-9 was significantly higher in patients compared to the healthy controls
(317.9±139 versus 228.3±99.1, P= ˂0.0001). IL-13 and Nrg4 were significantly lower in patients
compared to the healthy controls (4.3±3.7 versus 6.1±3.9, P=0.01 and 0.5 versus 1.3, P=0.001 respectively).
Multiple linear regression analyses revealed that IL-9 was negatively correlated with Nrg4 (β=
-0.3, P=0.009).
Conclusion: Our study, for the first time, provides the clinical evidence revealing that circulating Nrg4
concentrations are inversely correlated with IL-9 in Iranian patients with CAD, suggesting that the
protective role of Nrg4 on atherosclerosis may be, in part, mediated by the proatherogenic cytokine,
IL-9.
