Relationship between plasma protein S levels and apolipoprotein C-II in Japanese middle-aged obese women and young nonobese women

Abstract

: Protein S, a nonenzymatic cofactor to activated protein C, presents in two forms in plasma, free form and in a complex with C4b-binding protein. The aim of this study was to determine the association of plasma protein S levels with the variables related to cardiovascular disease risk. The relationships between plasma protein S levels with lipids, inflammation markers, and adiposity were first examined on middle-aged obese women (n = 62), then on young nonobese women (n = 160) to verify the findings in the obese women. Total and free protein S antigen levels in middle-aged obese women, approximately half being in a postmenopausal state and suffered from dyslipidemia, correlated negatively with estradiol and positively with triglycerides, total cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, apoA-II, apoB, apoC-II, apoC-III, apoE, hemoglobin A1c, and protein C, whereas there was no correlation with HDL cholesterol, apoA-I, BMI, visceral fat area, blood pressure, or factor VII activity. Multiple linear regression analyses revealed that protein C, apoC-II, and fibrinogen were significant predictors of total protein S antigen levels, accounting for 51.9% of variance, and apoC-II as a singular significant predictor for free protein S antigen levels (12.3% of variance). In young nonobese women, most being normolipidemic, apoC-II was also selected as a significant predictor of total protein S antigen levels, but not of free protein S antigen levels. The positive relationship between plasma protein S levels and apoC-II, a key regulator of triglycerides hydrolysis, may contribute to the pathogenesis of increased concentrations of plasma protein S.

Crosstalk between hemostasis inhibitors and cholesterol biomarkers in multiple sclerosis

“…27 In comparison, we found an association between TC and PS but did not find evidence for the TC-PC association. 27 In Japanese women, PS was found to be associated with TC, LDL-C, ApoA-II, ApoC-II and ApoE; 28 in our MS group, we found associations of PS with TC and ApoE and a trend with ApoC-II. HDL-C and ApoA-I, the signature apolipoprotein of HDL particles, increase PS and PC anticoagulant activities.…”