Decreased Iron Ion Concentrations in the Peripheral Blood Correlate with Coronary Atherosclerosis

Abstract

(1) Background: Obesity and diabetes continue to reach epidemic levels in the population with major health impacts that include a significantly increased risk of coronary atherosclerosis. The imbalance of trace elements in the body caused by nutritional factors can lead to the progression of coronary atherosclerosis. (2) Methods: We measured the concentrations of sodium (Na), potassium (K), magnesium (Mg), calcium (Ca), Zinc (Zn), and iron (Fe) in peripheral blood samples from 4243 patients and performed baseline analysis and propensity matching of the patient datasets. The patients were grouped into acute myocardial infarction (AMI, 702 patients) and stable coronary heart disease (SCAD1, 253 patients) groups. Both of these groups were included in the AS that had a total of 1955 patients. The control group consisted of 2288 patients. The plasma concentrations of calcium, magnesium, and iron were measured using a colorimetric method. For comparison, 15 external quality assessment (EQA) samples were selected from the Clinical Laboratory Center of the Ministry of Health of China. SPSS software was used for statistical analysis. The average values and deviations of all of the indicators in each group were calculated, and a p-value threshold of <0.05 was used to indicate statistical significance. (3) Results: The iron ion concentrations of the acute myocardial infarction (AMI) group were significantly lower than the control group (p < 0.05, AUC = 0.724, AUC = 0.702), irrespective of tendency matching. Compared to the data from the stable coronary artery disease (SCAD) group, the concentration of iron ions in the acute myocardial infarction group was significantly lower (p < 0.05, AUC = 0.710, AUC = 0.682). Furthermore, the iron ion concentrations in the (AMI + SCAD) group were significantly lower (p < 0.05) than in the control group. (4) Conclusions: The data presented in this study strongly indicate that the concentration of iron ions in the peripheral blood is related to coronary atherosclerosis. Decreases in the levels of iron ions in the peripheral blood can be used as a predictive biomarker of coronary atherosclerosis.

Iron metabolism-related genes reveal predictive value of acute coronary syndrome

“…The bivalent ferrous form (Fe2+) can donate electrons whereas the trivalent ferric form (Fe3+) can accept electrons, which are required for oxygen transport and enabled iron deficiency induce CVD [ ( von Haehling et al, 2015 )]. Meng et al observed that decreases in the levels of irons in the peripheral blood could be a predictive biomarker of coronary atherosclerosis from a study of 4,243 patients, which is consistent with our results [ ( Meng et al, 2022 )]. Therefore, serum iron metabolism is worthy of paying more attention to study and elucidate mechanisms of iron homeostasis because of its double-edged impacts.…”

No Association of Hair Zinc Concentration with Coronary Artery Disease Severity and No Relation with Acute Coronary Syndromes

“…The ratio of Zn excretion in urine to serum concentration is well-correlated with CAD and its severity [ 52 ]. Liu et al found that levels of serum zinc-α2-glycoprotein were decreased in patients with premature CAD [ 14 ], while Meng et al observed that Zn levels were higher in ACS groups than in CAD groups [ 53 ]. Furthermore, their analysis revealed that serum Zn level is an independent risk factor for the development of CAD [ 13 ].…”

New Progress in Early Diagnosis of Atherosclerosis

“…Whole-blood gene expression profiles can reveal illness status dynamics and suggest putative disease causes [ 63 ]. Many prevalent illnesses, such as AMI [ 64 , 65 , 66 , 67 ] and various forms of atherosclerosis [ 68 ], have distinct gene expression profiles. Differential gene expression in peripheral blood cells can provide more information on disease dynamics and better forecast the likelihood of cardiovascular events than currently employed approaches [ 63 ].…”

“…The relationship between the peripheral blood iron concentration and coronary atherosclerosis was validated by a cross-sectional study involving more than 4000 individuals. Loss of peripheral blood iron ions can be used as a biomarker for coronary atherosclerosis prognosis [ 64 ].…”