(Circulation. 2000;102:1258.)
© 2000 American Heart Association, Inc.
Clinical Investigation and Reports |
From the Allergy, Immunology, and Rheumatology Unit (A.B., I.S.), the Cardiology Unit (A.J.M., W.Z.), and the Vascular Medicine Unit (C.W.F.) of the Department of Medicine and the Department of Biostatistics (L.F.M.W.), University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, NY.
Correspondence to Arthur J. Moss, MD, University of Rochester Medical Center, 601 Elmwood Ave, BOX 653, Rochester, NY 14642. E-mail heartajm{at}heart.rochester.edu
| Abstract |
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Methods and ResultsThe study population consisted of 1150 patients with acute myocardial infarction. Levels of IgG and IgM aCL and aß2GPI antibodies were determined on sera collected before hospital discharge. There were 131 recurrent cardiac events (nonfatal myocardial infarctions or cardiac deaths) over a mean follow-up period of 24.6 months. Patients with elevated IgG aCL antibodies had a higher event rate than patients with low levels (P=0.05). Multivariate Cox analysis after adjustment for relevant clinical covariates showed that elevated levels of IgG aCL (hazard ratio=1.63; P=0.01) and low levels of IgM aCL (hazard ratio of 1.76; P=0.02) antibodies contribute independent risks for recurrent cardiac events. Patients with elevated IgG aCL and low IgM aCL antibody levels had a 3-fold higher risk of recurrent cardiac events than patients with low IgG aCL and elevated IgM aCL antibody levels (P<0.001). There was no significant association of the aß2GPI antibodies with recurrent cardiac events.
ConclusionsIn postinfarction patients, elevated IgG aCL and low IgM aCL antibodies are independent risk factors for recurrent cardiac events. Patients with both elevated IgG aCL and low IgM aCL antibodies have the highest risk. These findings shed additional light on the mechanistic role of aCL antibodies in coronary artery disease in patients without autoimmune diseases.
Key Words: antibodies thrombosis coronary disease myocardial infarction
| Introduction |
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An association of aCL antibodies with coronary artery disease has been shown in several8 9 10 11 12 13 but not all studies.14 15 In the present study, we evaluated the association of aCL and antiß2-GPI (aß2GPI) antibodies with recurrent myocardial infarction (MI) or cardiac death in a large cohort of patients without autoimmune diseases. The patients were participants in the Thrombogenic Factors and Recurrent Coronary Events (Thrombo) study, a multicenter prospective cohort study that examined the risk of different thrombogenic factors for recurrent coronary events.16
| Methods |
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21 years
of age with enzyme confirmation of the index MI with symptoms and/or
ECG changes consistent with an acute MI. The index MI could be
Q-wave or nonQ-wave in type and either a first or a recurrent
infarction. Exclusion criteria were coronary artery bypass
grafting surgery during the hospital phase of the index MI, malignancy,
or severe hepatic, renal, or cerebral disease.16
Study Protocol
Baseline demographic data regarding known risk factors for
coronary artery disease and recurrent MI were collected in all
patients. The patients were followed up by phone and with regular
clinic visits. Eighteen patients were lost to follow-up, and they were
included in the analysis up to the time of their last contact.
The human investigation committees of all the participating hospitals
approved the study protocol. Written informed consent was obtained from
all study participants.
Measurement of Antibodies
All the tests were done in duplicate with sera stored at
-70°C, and the mean value was obtained. One of the authors performed
all the tests in the same laboratory environment. Determination of aCL
antibodies was performed by standardized ELISA for both IgG and IgM
isotypes (REAADS Medical Products, Inc) with bovine calf serum in
the sample diluent as the source of ß2GPI.
Results are expressed as GPL units for the IgG (positive
23 GPL) and
MPL units for the IgM (positive
11 MPL) aCL antibodies, with 1 GPL or
MPL unit being equivalent to 1 µg/mL of an affinity-purified standard
IgG or IgM aCL antibody sample.17 Determination of IgM and
IgG aß2GPI antibodies was performed by ELISA
with irradiated and chemically activated plastic microwell
plates containing purified human ß2GPI (INOVA,
Inc). Results are expressed in standardized units,18 SGU
for the IgG (positive
20 SGU) and SMU for the IgM (positive
20 SMU)
aß2GPI antibodies. All tests met the quality
control standards as determined by the manufacturer.
Statistical Analysis
The end points were cardiac mortality and cardiac morbidity with
rehospitalization as the result of recurrent nonfatal MI (cardiac
events). The same diagnostic criteria as for the index MI
were used for the recurrent nonfatal MI. The first recurrent cardiac
event (cardiac death or recurrent nonfatal MI) that occurred was used
as the end point for each patient.
The baseline characteristics of patients with versus patients without
cardiac events were compared by
2 test.
Univariate analysis of the IgG and IgM aCL and
aß2GPI antibodies in relation to the outcome
was performed by Wilcoxons rank-sum test and
2 test where appropriate. For the survival
analyses, the IgG and IgM aCL and IgM
aß2GPI antibodies were dichotomized at a cutoff
point closest to the 75th percentile, and comparisons of the highest
quartile (Q4) versus the lower 3 quartiles
(Q13) were performed. This dichotomization
parallels the analysis of the original Thrombo study and
resolves the problem of skewness. The cutoff values for the highest
quartile were 12.5 GPL for IgG aCL, 4.1 MPL for IgM aCL, and 2.0 SMU
for IgM aß2GPI antibodies. For IgG
aß2GPI antibodies, values of the 95th
percentile were used for analysis rather than the quartile
approach because there were only 47 patients with any detectable level
of these antibodies. Kaplan-Meier survival analysis was used
for estimation of event rates in association with the IgG and IgM aCL
and aß2GPI antibodies. The Cox
proportional-hazards survivorship model was used to evaluate the
independent contribution of risk variables to outcome events. In
the construction of the Cox model, a clinical model was first obtained
by including any clinical variable that entered the model at a
level of significance <0.1 after a forward stepwise regression scheme.
This approach was used to ensure inclusion of any added contribution to
this model from important covariates with borderline levels of
significance. Individual medications (as listed in Table 1
) were tested in the model one at
a time. The SAS statistical program (SAS Institute, Inc) was used for
data analysis.
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| Results |
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During the mean follow-up period of 24.6 months (range 0 to 42 months),
a total of 131 recurrent cardiac events (84 cardiac deaths and 47
nonfatal MI) occurred. The group with events was older, with a higher
percentage having had a prior MI before the index MI and having
hypertension, diabetes mellitus, pulmonary congestion, and
ejection fraction
30%.
The mean levels and number of patients in the highest quartiles of IgG
and IgM aCL and aß2GPI antibodies in those with
and without coronary events are shown in Table 2
. There is a trend for higher IgG aCL
and lower IgM aCL antibody levels in patients with than without events
(P=0.06 for both). The highest quartiles of IgG aCL and IgM
aCL antibodies show a similar trend (Table 2
). The IgG and IgM
aß2GPI antibodies did not show a significant
association or a meaningful trend with recurrent cardiac events.
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Kaplan-Meier survivorship analysis for the IgG and IgM aCL
antibodies is shown in the Figure
.
Patients in the highest quartile of IgG aCL antibodies had a higher
coronary event rate than patients in the lower 3 quartiles
(P=0.05). A reverse trend was observed for the IgM aCL
antibodies (P=0.06).
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The risk contributed by aCL antibodies to the Cox model after
adjustment for relevant clinical covariates is shown in Table 3
. The variables that entered the
clinical model at the 0.1 level of significance were age
60 years,
prior MI before the index MI, diabetes mellitus, smoking,
pulmonary congestion, and ejection fraction
30%. In this
model, IgG aCL antibodies in the highest quartile of the distribution
contributed an independent hazard ratio (HR) of 1.63 (95% CI 1.11 to
2.38; P=0.01) for recurrent coronary events. In
contrast, IgM aCL antibodies in the lower 3 quartiles of the
distribution contributed an independent HR of 1.76 (95% CI 1.10 to
2.82; P=0.02) for recurrent coronary events.
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Because the IgG and IgM aCL antibodies contributed comparable
opposite effects, we explored the joint risk for patients in the high-
and low-risk partitions of both aCL antibody isotypes. The group of
patients with IgM aCL antibodies in the highest quartile and IgG aCL
antibodies in the lower 3 quartiles had the lowest risk and was chosen
as the reference group. Patients with IgG aCL antibodies in the highest
quartile and IgM aCL antibodies in the lower 3 quartiles had higher
risks than any other aCL antibody group and 3-fold higher risk than the
reference group (P=0.001) (Table 4
).
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The cutoff values for the upper quartiles of the IgG (
12.5 GPL) and
IgM (
4.1 MPL) aCL antibodies are lower than the values that are
considered positive in the aCL antibody assay that was used in our
study (
23 GPL for IgG and
11 MPL for IgM aCL antibodies). When the
data were analyzed according to the positive values, positive
IgG and IgM aCL antibodies were associated with hazard ratios of 2.0
(P=0.01) and 0.8 (P=0.6), respectively. The low
number of positive IgG and IgM aCL antibodies in the group of patients
with events (Table 2
) was the main obstacle to the
interpretation of these results.
The correlation coefficients for aCL and aß2GPI
antibodies by isotype are shown in Table 5
. A moderately strong correlation
(r=0.50) was present only between IgM aCL and
aß2GPI IgM antibodies.
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| Discussion |
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30% (HR=1.69), and smoking
(HR=1.81). Our data also revealed an inverse association of IgM aCL antibody levels with recurrent cardiac events. Thus, patients with elevated IgG aCL and low IgM aCL antibodies had the highest risk compared with all other aCL antibody groups.
The association between myocardial infarction and IgG aCL antibodies has been suggested in several smaller studies.11 12 13 With regard to noncardiac events, IgG aCL antibodies at levels above the 95th percentile have been implicated as a significant risk factor for venous thrombosis or pulmonary embolus in a case-control study from the Physicians Health Study2 and for first stroke in a large case-control study.3 In other studies that found a positive association of the IgG aCL antibodies with arterial thrombosis, information about the IgM aCL antibodies was not reported19 or the association was not conclusive.8 Our study, because of its large size, had the power to detect such an association.
Before our study, minimal information was available regarding the association between aß2GPI antibodies and coronary events. We found no association between these antibodies (either IgG or IgM) with recurrent cardiac events despite a meaningful correlation (r=0.50) between aCL IgM and aß2GPI IgM antibodies. Our findings confirm and extend the only relevant study available in which only the IgG isotype was measured.20 This result is consistent with Vaaralas21 observation that aß2GPI antibodies are infrequently detected in nonautoimmune patients with MI.
The question of whether aCL antibodies can be induced in response to tissue necrosis that occurs in MI is still unresolved.22 However, there is clinical evidence that aCL antibodies precede the development of first MI12 and that aCL antibody titers are stable for up to 3 months after MI.11 These studies indicate that aCL antibodies are not generated by tissue necrosis but rather they participate in the pathogenesis of MI. This hypothesis is biologically plausible because of the proinflammatory23 24 25 and procoagulant26 27 28 29 properties of these antibodies. The aCL autoantibodies detected in SLE are primarily directed against the so-called "cofactor proteins," including ß2GPI (the predominant cofactor), prothrombin, annexin V, thrombomodulin, and proteins C and S, among others.26 30 Such cofactors share the property of being phospholipid-binding proteins with intrinsic anticoagulant activity. Hence, binding of aCL antibodies may diminish the function of these anticoagulant systems. In addition, IgG aCL antibodies enhance platelet activation and thromboxane production27 and activate endothelial cells in the presence of ß2GPI.28 29 The interplay among aCL antibodies, the anticoagulant system, and the endothelial cells could contribute to the prothrombotic state that is central to the pathogenesis of recurrent MI.16 31
A unique finding of our study is the reverse association of the IgM aCL antibodies with recurrent cardiac events, even in the presence of IgG aCL antibodies. Several nonmutually exclusive mechanisms could account for this observation. IgM aCL antibodies might represent protective natural autoantibodies32 or they could have rheumatoid factor activity and thus play a beneficial role in immune homeostasis.33 Alternatively, it could be postulated that the aCL antibody response in our patients starts with a primary IgM antibody response against nonpathogenic epitopes that subsequently, through epitope spreading, results in the recognition of previously ignored pathogenic epitopes by antigen-selected IgG antibodies.34 A hypothetical example of a protective initial IgM antibody response might be the binding and inhibition of the colonization of the vascular endothelium by infectious agents such as Chlamydia pneumoniae that may play a role in the development of atherosclerosis.35 36 The ability of aCL antibodies to recognize chlamydial antigens, or conversely, the ability of chlamydial infection to elicit aCL antibodies, remains to be tested. This model is appealing because it is also consistent with the lack of association of recurrent coronary events with aß2GPI antibodies that was observed in our study. Indeed, aCL antibodies induced by infections do not recognize ß2GPI,37 and these antibodies may be prevalent in our cohort of nonautoimmune patients.
It should be noted that aCL antibodies cross-react with oxidized LDL25 and that antibodies against oxidized LDL have been implicated in the development of atherosclerosis.22 When considered that both C pneumoniae and chlamydial hsp60, an inflammatory antigen that was recently localized in atheromas, can induce cellular oxidation of LDL,38 a reasonable link between chlamydial infection, aCL antibodies, and atherosclerosis emerges.
In summary, IgG aCL antibodies are an independent risk factor for recurrent cardiac events in this large population of nonautoimmune patients. Our findings contribute new data in the ongoing research for identification of additional coronary risk factors.39 At present, the use of IgG aCL antibodies to stratify patients for coronary risk is limited by the heterogeneity of these antibodies,40 the available commercial kits,41 and the lack of standardization of the aCL antibody assays between the different laboratories.42 As we learn more about the different specificities of the aCL antibodies and more standardized assays develop, aCL antibodies may become useful for identifying patients at risk for coronary events. Although high levels IgG and low levels of IgM aCL antibodies convey independent risk, the predictive value of these antibodies is too low for use in risk-stratification application at this time.
| Acknowledgments |
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| Footnotes |
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Received January 4, 2000; revision received April 6, 2000; accepted April 7, 2000.
| References |
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