-Administration of an MMP inhibitor attenuates early left ventricular dilation after experimental MI in mice. Further studies in genetically altered mice and other models will improve understanding of the role of MMPs in left ventricular remodeling.

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Abstract-Although cellular adhesion molecules (CAMs) are hypothesized to play an important role in atherogenesis, the relationship between CAMs and systemic atherosclerosis is uncertain. Among 92 outpatients (48 men; meanϮSD age, 65Ϯ9 years), we evaluated the association of soluble vascular CAM-1 (sVCAM-1) and intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (sICAM-1) with carotid intimal-medial thickness (IMT), an index of early atherosclerosis. All subjects underwent a 2-dimensional ultrasound examination of both carotid arteries at the distal common carotid arteries and bifurcation. sVCAM-1 and sICAM-1 levels measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay were significantly correlated with mean IMT of the common carotid artery (rϭ0.34 and rϭ0.30, respectively; PϽ0.01) and carotid bifurcation (rϭ0.31 and rϭ0.26, respectively; PϽ0.05), whereas sVCAM-1 was also positively associated with maximal carotid IMT (rϭ0.35, PϽ0.01). Adjustment for age attenuated the association between sVCAM-1 and common (rϭ0.16, Pϭ0.13) and bifurcation (rϭ0.18, Pϭ0.07) carotid IMT but had minimal effect on the associations between sICAM-1 and carotid measurements (rϭ0.32, PϽ0.01; rϭ0.23, PϽ0.05; for common and bifurcation IMT, respectively). Age-adjusted sICAM-1 levels increased in a stepwise fashion across common carotid IMT tertiles (253Ϯ27 versus 275Ϯ24 versus 384Ϯ26 pg/mL for the lowest, intermediate, and highest IMT tertiles, respectively; PϽ0.01). A similar trend was also found between sVCAM-1 levels and common carotid IMT tertiles (625Ϯ60 versus 650Ϯ53 versus 714Ϯ58 pg/mL; PϽ0.15). These associations were minimally affected in analyses adjusting for hypertension, diabetes, smoking, low and high density lipoprotein cholesterol, lipoprotein(a), and homocysteine, or in a subgroup analysis limited to those with no prior history of atherothrombotic disease. These data demonstrate a positive association between serum CAMs with carotid IMT and further support the hypothesis that systemic inflammation may have a role in atherosclerotic lesion development.