Neopterin is associated with plaque inflammation and destabilisation in human coronary atherosclerotic lesions

Abstract

Neopterin can be considered as one of the significant factors in the process of plaque inflammation and destabilisation in human coronary atherosclerotic lesions. Its exact role in the process needs to be investigated further.

Neopterin and Atherosclerotic Plaque Instability in Coronary and Carotid Arteries

“…Moreover, our previous study demonstrated that infiltration of myeloperoxidase (MPO), a strong prooxidant enzyme released from activated neutrophils, occurs in the culprit lesions of patients with UAP 28) . In our immunohistochemical analysis to detect neopterin in coronary atherectomy specimens 11) , the neopterin-positive macrophage score showed a significant positive correlation with the number of MPO-positive neutrophils. In addition, it has been shown that the reaction generating neopterin from 7,8-dihydroneopterin is oxidation by HOCl, mainly produced by MPO from neutrophils 3,20) .…”

“…Circulating levels of neopterin have been reported to be higher in patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS) than in control subjects and in patients with stable angina pectoris (SAP) 6,7) . Furthermore, recent studies have shown a direct association between neopterin and plaque instability in coronary arteries [8][9][10][11] ( Table 1). Several coronary angiographic studies have shown a relationship between increased neopterin levels and complex coronary lesions in patients with unstable angina pectoris (UAP) 8,9) ; however, neopterin levels did not correlate with the number of diseased coronary vessels, suggesting that neopterin may be a marker of inflammatory CAD activity rather than a measure of the anatomical extent of the coronary atheromatous process 8,9) .…”

“…To elucidate the role of neopterin in coronary plaque destabilization, we previously performed immunohistochemically analysis to detect neopterin in coronary atherectomy specimens obtained from 25 patients with SAP and 25 patients with UAP 11) . In 22 of 25 patients with UAP, abundant neopterin-positive macrophages were found at the sites of coronary culprit lesions; however, in patients with SAP, only 11 of 25 lesions showed neopterin positivity.…”

“…Previous clinical studies have demonstrated that neopterin is associated with atherosclerotic plaque instability in coronary artery disease (CAD) [6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17] . Circulating levels of neopterin have been reported to be higher in patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS) than in control subjects and in patients with stable angina pectoris (SAP) 6,7) .…”

“…These findings suggest that neopterin is an important biomarker of plaque instability in both coronary and carotid atherosclerotic lesions. [6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18] . In this review, we focus on the relationship between neopterin and plaque instability in coronary and carotid arteries, and also introduce the results of our recent studies.…”