Evaluation of Growth Differentiation Factor-15 in Patients with or without Coronary Artery Disease

BACKGROUND: Growth-differentiation factor-15 (GDF-15) is a distant member of the transforming growth factor-beta cytokine superfamily expressed in human atherosclerotic plaque macrophages. In this study, we sought to compare GDF-15 between patients with coronary artery disease and control group. METHODS: In this cross-sectional study, 176 subjects were enrolled, consisted of 88 coronary artery disease patients (CAD group) and 88 non-CAD participants (control group. Clinical and demographic data, comprising of family history of CAD, history, and lifestyle factors, hypertension, diabetes, and some blood parameters (e.g. glucose, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C)), triglyceride, high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP)). RESULTS: Mean age of the patients was 55.5±11.1 years (age range: 28–80 years). Of all the participants, 91 (51.7%) were male and 85 (48.3%) female. Hs-CRP, LDL-C, and GDF-15 levels were significantly higher in the CAD patients (P=0.091, P=0.008, and P<0.001, respectively). Total cholesterol, hematocrit, and hemoglobin were significantly higher in the controls (P=0.002, P=0.011, and P=0.055, respectively). The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve yielded the satisfactory result of 0.9 (95% CI, 0.8-0.9; P<0.001). The optimum cut-off value of GDF-15 was 1233 ng/L with 71% specificity and 71% sensitivity for CAD diagnosis. CONCLUSION: These data suggest that serum GDF-15 might be useful in prediction of CAD. (www.actabiomedica)