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From the Department of Cardiology (G.M., F.P., D.T.), the Laboratory of
Biochemistry (C.J., M.C., J.P.B.), and the Laboratory of Hemostasis (A.A.),
Pitié-Salpétrière Hospital, Paris; the Laboratory of
Biophysics (E.V.), Fernand Widal Hospital, Paris; the Department of Cardiology
(E.B.), Arras Hospital, Arras; the Department of Cardiology (J.E.P.),
Abbeville Hospital, Abbeville; the Department of Cardiology (D.C.), Purpan
Hospital, Toulouse; the Department of Cardiology (D.F.), Angoulème
Hospital, Angoulème; the Department of Cardiology (A.D.),
Saint-Philibert Hospital, Lomme; the Laboratory of Biochemistry (A.C.), C.H.U.
Pitié-Salpétrière, Paris; and Rhone-Poulenc-Rorer (F.B.),
Croix de Berny, France.
Correspondence to Gilles Montalescot, MD, PhD, Department of Cardiology, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Pitié-Salpétrière, 47 boulevard de l'Hôpital, 75013, Paris, France. E-mail gilles.montalescot{at}psl.ap-hop-paris.fr
Methods and ResultsSixty-eight patients with unstable angina or
nonQ-wave myocardial infarction randomized in the international
ESSENCE trial participated in this French substudy. C-reactive protein,
fibrinogen, von Willebrand factor antigen, endothelin-1 and
troponin I were measured on admission and 48 hours later. The composite
end point of death, myocardial infarction, recurrent angina, or
revascularization was significantly lower at 14 and
30 days of follow-up in patients allocated to enoxaparin compared with
unfractionated heparin. All acute-phase reactant proteins were elevated
on admission and increased further at 48 hours.
Multivariate analysis demonstrated that the
rise of von Willebrand factor over 48 hours was a significant
and independent predictor of the composite end point at both 14 days
and 30 days. Moreover the early increase of von Willebrand
factor was more frequent and more severe with unfractionated heparin
than with enoxaparin (mean change was +8.7±8.8% with enoxaparin
versus +93.9±11.7% with unfractionated heparin,
P<0.0001). The other clinical and biological
variables did not predict outcome.
ConclusionsIn patients with unstable angina or nonQ-wave
myocardial infarction, the acute-phase proteins increase over the first
2 days despite medical treatment. The early rise of von
Willebrand factor is an independent predictor of adverse
clinical outcome at 14 days and at 30 days. Enoxaparin provides
protection as evidenced by the reduced release of von
Willebrand factor, which represents a favorable
prognostic finding.
We undertook a prospective study in unstable coronary artery
disease patients to further evaluate the prognostic value of these
factors of inflammation and hemostasis (C-reactive protein, fibrinogen,
von Willebrand factor), of the early marker of myocardial
damage troponin I, and of the endothelial
vasoconstrictor peptide endothelin-1, which has been reported to
increase after coronary angioplasty and in the early hours of
myocardial infarction or unstable coronary artery
disease.17 18 19 20
Study Patients
Exclusion criteria included the presence of left bundle-branch block or
pacemaker, persistent ST-segment elevation, secondary angina with an
identified precipitating factor (eg, severe anemia, thyrotoxicosis,
heart failure, tachydysrhythmia, or severe hypertension),
contraindications to anticoagulation, current need for oral
anticoagulant (eg, heart valve prosthesis), and renal failure.
Written informed consent was obtained from all patients. The ESSENCE
study and this substudy were both approved by the
Pitié-Salpétrière Ethics Committee.
Study Design: ESSENCE Study
Study Design: Present Study
Biological Measurements
To determine C-reactive protein, blood was collected into a Vacutainer
tube with no additive. After centrifugation, serum was
divided into aliquots and stored at -80°C until further
analysis. C-reactive protein was measured by immunonephelometry
on a Behring Nephelometer BNII (Behring). The sensitivity of the assay
was 0.8 mg/L, normal values being <5 mg/L.
Troponin I was measured by enzyme immunoassay on an Opus
analyzer (Behring). The sensitivity of the assay was 0.5
µg/L, normal values being <2 µg/L.
For endothelin measurements, blood was collected into Vacutainer tubes
containing ethylene diamino tetra-acetic acid, immediately
centrifuged, and frozen at -80°C. Endothelins were extracted
with the ethyl silica minicolumns (Amprep C2, 500 mg Amersham) from up
to 2 mL of plasma, eluted by methanol 80%/TFA in the Tris HCl pH 7.4
radioimmunoassay buffer. Endothelin concentrations were determined by
radioimmunoassay as previously described.23 The
antibody specificity (ie, cross-reactivity of different peptides at
50% binding concentration) was endothelin (ET)-1 100%, ET-2 475%,
ET-3 78%, and big ET 0.46%. The sensitivity of the assay was 0.25
pg/tube and the interassay and intra-assay reproducibility was 6.1%
and 15%, respectively.
Statistical Analysis
Biological Variables and Outcome
There was a dramatic increase over the first 48 hours of the plasma
levels of fibrinogen (from 3.16±0.10 to 3.77±0.15 g/L,
P<0.0001) and C-reactive protein (from 8.3±2.3 to
24.1±5.0 mg/L, P<0.001), but there were no significant
differences for both parameters between the patients with
or without an end point at 14 days (see Table 2
The mean basal levels of endothelin-1 and troponin-I were both
elevated on admission and they did not change significantly over the
first 2 days. The levels did not differ either between the groups of
patients with or without an end point at 14 days.
Treatment Effects
Several prior studies have reported elevated values of acute-phase
proteins in patients with unstable coronary artery
disease,5 6 7 8 and few of them investigated their
prognostic importance. von Willebrand factor has not drawn much
attention in unstable coronary artery disease despite its major
role in the plateletvessel wall interaction and its predictive
value of acute coronary syndromes in coronary
patients.26 This adhesive protein participates in
the inflammatory process of unstable coronary artery disease
and increases more markedly and more often in our patients who
experience a major clinical event within the 14 days and 30 days
follow-up. The absence of a relation with troponin I levels suggests
that the rise of von Willebrand factor is not secondary to
myocardial cell damage. In contrast to other proteins involved in the
inflammatory process, von Willebrand factor can be released
rapidly and act locally as a potent thrombogenic factor, which may
explain its better predictive value compared with C-reactive protein
and fibrinogen, which were not predictors of outcome in our group of
patients.
von Willebrand factor mediates platelet adhesion to sites
of vascular damage through the interaction with platelet
glycoprotein Ib. This interaction not only promotes the
initial attachment of platelets to subendothelium
but acts also as a platelet agonist27 and
plays a role in thrombus formation through exposure of
glycoprotein IIb/IIIa, to which von Willebrand
factor and fibrinogen can bind.28 The role of von
Willebrand factor in these processes is most significant at
high shear rates.29 The von Willebrand
factor binding site for platelet glycoprotein Ib
overlaps with an important heparin binding
domain.30 Heparin bound to von Willebrand
factor prevents the protein binding to glycoprotein Ib and
impairs von Willebrand factordependent platelet
hemostatic mechanisms in vitro and in vivo in human
beings.31 32 Subspecies of heparin have been
developed to enhance potency to inhibit von Willebrand
factor/platelet interaction, but the precise von Willebrand
factorbinding domains of heparin are not yet
identified.33 Unfractionated heparin and
enoxaparin may not have the same affinity for von Willebrand
factor, leading to a possible difference in platelet deposition on
the injured artery. In contrast to unfractionated heparin,
low-molecular-weight heparin exhibits considerably less binding to
plasma proteins, has a higher bioavailability, a more pronounced
anti-Xa effect including at the surface of platelets, and resists
to platelet factor 4.34 35 36 The success of
low-molecular-weight heparin to reduce thrombin generation and
platelet activation is consistent with our finding of a
better control of von Willebrand factor release during an acute
coronary event. This von Willebrand factor effect may
reflect the key intervention of enoxaparin in the
platelet-endothelium interaction. In addition, von
Willebrand factor circulates in plasma as a noncovalent complex
with Factor VIII, protecting Factor VIII from inactivation and
delivering it at the sites of vascular injury.37
A better control of von Willebrand factor plasma levels
provides less Factor VIIIa available for thrombin generation, which is
a major agonist of both endothelial cells and
platelets. Less thrombin generation may limit further the release
of von Willebrand factor stored in Weibel-Palade bodies and
Thus the effect of enoxaparin on the high levels of von
Willebrand factor initially measured in our patients could
reduce both platelet deposition through von Willebrand
factorglycoproteins interactions and thrombin generation
through von Willebrand factorFactor VIII interaction. These
actions may prevent further von Willebrand factor release and
control better the ongoing thrombotic process. This effect of
enoxaparin on von Willebrand factor may be an important
explanation for its superiority over unfractionated heparin in a
platelet-mediated coronary event. One limitation of our
study is the small sample size, which does not allow us to see ECG
changes, troponin I, or fibrinogen as significantly predictive of
outcome after multivariate analysis. Moreover,
our data do not demonstrate a causal relation between the changes of
von Willebrand plasma levels under treatment and the clinical
efficacy of enoxaparin in unstable coronary artery disease
patients but suggest a mechanism to explain the clinical benefit
observed with enoxaparin in the ESSENCE trial.19
Further studies are needed to determine if it is a specific property of
enoxaparin or a common characteristic to all low-molecular-weight
heparins and to prove that this effect of enoxaparin is responsible for
its efficacy in unstable coronary artery disease.
In conclusion, our data confirm the previous reports of an
inflammatory process in unstable coronary artery disease and
demonstrate that the early increase of von Willebrand factor,
an acute-phase and thrombogenic protein, predicts severe
coronary events complicating unstable coronary artery
disease. The blunting of the early von Willebrand factor rise
by enoxaparin may relate to the better clinical outcome observed in our
study and more widely in the ESSENCE trial. In addition to the
pathogenetic and clinical importance, the present results point to
von Willebrand factor as a new pharmacologic target to prevent
thrombosis at high shear rates.
Received December 12, 1997;
revision received March 4, 1998;
accepted March 17, 1998.
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© 1998 American Heart Association, Inc.
Clinical Investigation and Reports
Early Increase of von Willebrand Factor Predicts Adverse Outcome in Unstable Coronary Artery Disease
Beneficial Effects of Enoxaparin
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Abstract
Top
Abstract
Introduction
Methods
Results
Discussion
References
BackgroundThe pathogenesis of
unstable angina and nonQ-wave myocardial infarction is still poorly
understood, and early evaluation of prognosis remains difficult. We
therefore studied the predictive value of 5 biological indicators of
inflammation, thrombogenesis, vasoconstriction, and myocardial
necrosis, and we examined the effects of enoxaparin and unfractionated
heparin on these markers after 48 hours of treatment.
Key Words: coronary disease von Willebrand factor C-reactive protein fibrinogen heparin
![]()
Introduction
Top
Abstract
Introduction
Methods
Results
Discussion
References
Unstable angina and
nonQ-wave myocardial infarction (unstable coronary artery
disease) share the same pathophysiology, clinical
presentation, and difficulty of risk assessment for future
cardiac events. Recurrence of chest pain despite medical
therapy and ECG changes indicate a poorer prognosis. Conventional serum
markers such as creatine kinase and its isoenzyme MB lack sensitivity
and specificity for the initial risk
evaluation.1 2 3 4 Recently, troponin T and troponin
I, which are early specific markers of myocardial necrosis, have been
shown to be reliable indicators of prognosis in large populations of
patients with acute coronary syndromes.2 3 4 Inflammation is
present in unstable coronary artery disease and may precipitate the thrombogenic process
by enhancing the local hemostatic and vasoconstrictor responses.
Increased plasma concentrations of acute-phase reactant proteins such
as C-reactive protein and fibrinogen have been reported in unstable
coronary artery disease.5 6 7 8 These
markers provide some prognostic information and they require de novo
synthesis by the liver. von Willebrand factor, another protein
of the acute phase reaction, is stored in the Weibel-Palade bodies of
endothelial cells and in the platelet
-granules
and can be released rapidly at the local site of the injured artery
without de novo protein synthesis. von Willebrand factor
mediates platelet adhesion to exposed
subendothelium, and raised plasma levels of von
Willebrand factor have been reported in patients with acute
myocardial infarction and after coronary angioplasty, but
little attention has been focused on unstable coronary artery
disease.9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Recently, an elevated level of von
Willebrand factor has been reported to be a risk factor for
coronary heart disease with other hemostatic factors
(fibrinogen and factor VIII).16
![]()
Methods
Top
Abstract
Introduction
Methods
Results
Discussion
References
This study was conducted in 6 of the French centers involved in
the international ESSENCE trial, which demonstrated the clinical
superiority of enoxaparin (100 anti-Xa units/kg every 12 hours)
compared with adjusted-dose intravenous unfractionated
heparin in patients hospitalized for unstable coronary artery
disease.21 The benefit observed with enoxaparin
was similar in patients with unstable angina as in patients with
nonQ-wave myocardial infarction. Patients were sampled twice, on
admission and 48 hours later, to determine the predictive value of the
changes in the biochemical parameters. The relation of each
biochemical variable to the outcome at 14 and 30 days of follow-up
was assessed directly by univariate analysis and
multivariately after adjustment for other associated
clinical and biological variables. In addition, we examined the
treatment effects of enoxaparin versus unfractionated heparin on
biological variables and clinical outcome.
Sixty-eight patients were enrolled in 6 of the French centers
participating in this substudy of the international ESSENCE trial,
which involved 3171 patients overall. To be randomized, patients had to
have experienced rest angina lasting >10 minutes suggestive of
myocardial ischemia, with the last episode of chest pain within
the last 24 hours, and demonstrated evidence of coronary artery
disease as shown by
1 of the following: (1) ECG changes; (2) previous
myocardial infarction, PTCA, or CABG; (3) previous positive exercise
treadmill test in men or previous positive thallium exercise test in
women; and (4) previous coronary angiography showing >50%
narrowing of any coronary artery.21
The international ESSENCE study19 was a
randomized, double-blind, parallel group trial. Patients received
either weight-adjusted enoxaparin (100 anti-Xa units/kg) subcutaneously
at 12-hour intervals and intravenous bolus and infusion of
unfractionated heparin placebo or subcutaneous enoxaparin placebo and
intravenous bolus unfractionated heparin followed by
continuous infusion adjusted according to the activated
partial-thromboplastin time (aPTT). All patients received aspirin
therapy (100 to 325 mg daily). The study treatment was administered for
a minimum of 48 hours and up to a maximum of 8 days. End points were
evaluated at 14 days and 30 days: new myocardial infarction, recurrent
angina, revascularization procedure, or death. The
primary outcome was the composite end point of death, myocardial
infarction, or recurrent angina with ECG changes or prompting
intervention. All clinical events were adjudicated independently by an
end point committee unaware of treatment assignments and biological
results. Myocardial infarction as an end point was clearly defined in
the protocol, especially for patients admitted with a nonQ-wave
myocardial infarction. Although creatine kinase (CK) enzymes were
required to be elevated for reinfarction within 16 hours and CK data
were examined as supportive information, they were not part of the
formal definition for reinfarction within 16 hours of admission.
Patients were required to exhibit a new episode of severe
ischemic discomfort at rest accompanied by new or recurrent
ST-segment elevation of >0.1 mV in at least two contiguous leads and
the ischemic discomfort and/or ST-segment elevation had to
persist for at least 30 minutes. After 16 hours, reinfarction was
defined by cardiac enzymes or ECG evidence of myocardial infarction
(enzyme: reelevation of CK-MB to above normal if prior CK-MB was in the
normal range, or >50% above prior level if the prior level was above
the normal range).
Blood was sampled twice in each patient at baseline and at 48
hours. All measurements were performed in a central laboratory
(Pitié-Salpétrière Hospital) at the end of the study.
For the purpose of this substudy, we used the ESSENCE database with
demographic data, baseline characteristics, validated clinical events,
and revascularization procedures of the 68
patients. Clinical follow-up was performed at both 14 days and 30 days.
The primary objective of this study was the composite end point of
death, myocardial infarction, recurrent angina, or any
revascularization procedure at 14 days of
follow-up. The same composite end point was also assessed at 30 days of
follow-up (secondary objective).
Venous blood (9 volumes) was collected into a Vacutainer tube
containing 0.129 mol/L trisodium citrate (1 volume) for fibrinogen and
von Willebrand factor antigen measurements. Platelet-poor
plasma was obtained by centrifugation at
3000g for 20 minutes at 10°C. Plasma was separated into
aliquots and stored at -80°C. Fibrinogen was measured by the Clauss
thrombin time method (Thrombin Reagent, Baxter, Dade Division) with an
STA analyzer.22 The normal range was 1.7
to 3.7 g/L. The plasma concentrations of von Willebrand factor
antigen were measured with an ELISA technique (Asserachrom von
Willebrand factor, Diagnostica Stago). The normal
range was 60% to 110%. The interassay and intra-assay coefficient of
variation was <5% for both fibrinogen and von Willebrand
factor measurements.
Results are expressed as mean±SEM. Simple linear regression was
used to test the association between continuous variables.
Potential associations between clinical or biological
parameters and the composite end point at 14 days and 30
days were first tested by univariate procedures with
Student's t or
2 tests. To
estimate the potential predictive values of biological
parameters independent of clinical parameters,
all biological variables with a P value <0.20 in the
univariate procedure were analyzed
multivariately with stepwise logistic regression in a
model including all clinical variables (Biomedical Data Processing
Package, UCLA).24 To avoid an overestimation of
the number of predictive variables, we used conservative criteria
to select predictive variables: (1) limits to enter or remove
variables in the regression equation must have 5% probability
value, (2) the ratio between the corresponding regression and its
standard error must be >2,25 and (3) results
were verified with two different numerical procedures, asymptotic
covariance estimate and maximum likelihood method. To give an
estimation of the increase in risk caused by high
von
Willebrand factor, we used a logistic procedure to calculate
the odds ratio (OR) corresponding to the group of patients with values
of
von Willebrand factor higher than the median value of
von Willebrand factor versus those with values lower than
the median value. Unadjusted OR and OR adjusted for all clinical
baseline variables tested in the multivariate
procedure were calculated. The conclusions are based on the results of
the multivariate analysis and data of the
univariate screening procedure are presented only
for information.
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Results
Top
Abstract
Introduction
Methods
Results
Discussion
References
Clinical Characteristics
Sixty-eight patients were included in this substudy in 6 centers.
Thirty-four patients were assigned to unfractionated heparin and 34 to
enoxaparin. The admission diagnosis was unstable angina in 50 patients
and nonQ-wave myocardial infarction in 18 patients. At least 1
clinical end point occurred in 26 patients at 14 days and in 27
patients at 30 days. Age, sex, weight, and medical history did not
differ between the patients with or without an end point during the
14-day follow-up (see Table 1
). Blood
pressure tended to be higher and ECG changes were significantly more
frequent in patients with an adverse outcome, but these
parameters were not significant predictors of the outcome
at 14 days and 30 days after multivariate
analysis. Mean study drug duration was 3.6±0.4 days in the
group of patients with an end point at 14 days and 3.9±0.2 days in the
patients without an end point.
View this table:
[in a new window]
Table 1. Clinical Characteristics of Patients With or Without
an End Point at 14 Days of
Follow-up
The mean plasma level of von Willebrand factor in the
whole population increased from 179.9±9.2% at baseline to
227.7±9.9% at 48 hours (P<0.0001), and the rise was
2-fold higher in patients with an end point at 14 days than in those
without an end point (P=0.02; see Table 2
). von Willebrand factor
increased over the first 2 days in 86% of patients who experienced a
clinical end point at day 14. Plasma levels of von Willebrand
factor at the entry and their changes over 48 hours (
von
Willebrand=von Willebrand
H48-von Willebrand
H0) did not correlate with the troponin I levels
on admission or to the changes of troponin I levels over the first 48
hours. The median value of
von Willebrand was 36%.
Multivariate analysis confirmed that
von
Willebrand over the first 48 hours was a significant predictor
of adverse outcome at both 14 days (
2 test for
improvement of likelihood ratio=5.6) and 30 days
(
2 test for improvement of likelihood
ratio=4.1) in patients admitted for unstable coronary artery
disease. This factor was predictive independent of all the other
biological and clinical variables. The increase in risk associated
to high
von Willebrand was also assessed by estimation of
OR for patients with
von Willebrand higher than the median
value of
von Willebrand versus those with values lower than
the median value. Unadjusted or adjusted OR (95% CI) were 6.1 (1.5 to
23.9) and 6.5 (1.3 to 34.2) for the composite end point at 14 days
(primary objective of the study).
View this table:
[in a new window]
Table 2. Univariate and Multivariate Analyses for Biological
Variables
). The changes of
C-reactive protein plasma levels over the first 48 hours correlated
significantly to the changes of fibrinogen plasma levels over the same
period (r=0.84, P<0.0001). The correlations
between the changes in von Willebrand factor and fibrinogen
(r=0.51, P<0.0001) or C-reactive protein
(r=0.48, P=0.0005) were significant but not as
strong.
Patients allocated to enoxaparin experienced fewer clinical events
than the patients treated with unfractionated heparin at both 14 days
(9 versus 17 patients, P=0.04) and 30 days (9 versus 18
patients, P=0.02) of follow-up. When examining all the
events of the first 14 days of follow-up, the superiority of enoxaparin
over unfractionated heparin was present for each individual element
of the composite end point (Table 3
).
Furthermore, the rise of von Willebrand factor over the first
48 hours of treatment after admission was more frequent and more
pronounced in the unfractionated heparin group than in the enoxaparin
group (mean change of von Willebrand factor was +8.7±8.8% in
the enoxaparin group versus +93.9±11.7% in the unfractionated heparin
group, P<0.0001, see Figure
). The rise of
von Willebrand factor according to the treatment group and the
presence or not of an event of the composite end point is shown in
Table 4
. The early rise of von
Willebrand factor is associated with all individual events of
the composite end point. The patients free of events in the enoxaparin
group did not increase their von Willebrand factor plasma
levels over 48 hours. Treatment with enoxaparin did not alter the
plasma levels of the other biological variables measured in this
study.
View this table:
[in a new window]
Table 3. Number of Events at 14-Day Follow-up in Each
Treatment
Group

View larger version (14K):
[in a new window]
Figure 1. Absolute changes of von Willebrand factor (vWF)
levels (%) over 48 hours (von Willebrand factor level at 48
hours [%]-von Willebrand factor level at entry [%]) in
patients randomized to receive unfractionated heparin or enoxaparin.
The rise of von Willebrand factor was more pronounced in
patients receiving unfractionated heparin than in those receiving
enoxaparin (P<0.0001 between mean values shown in the
figure).
View this table:
[in a new window]
Table 4.
von Willebrand Factor (%) in Each Treatment
Group According to Presence of an
Event
![]()
Discussion
Top
Abstract
Introduction
Methods
Results
Discussion
References
Our study confirms that the first hours of evolving unstable
coronary artery disease are associated with a significant
acute-phase response. The baseline levels of C-reactive protein,
fibrinogen, and von Willebrand factor are elevated in our
patients on admission and these levels further increase over the first
48 hours, showing the presence of an ongoing inflammatory process
despite antithrombotic and anti-ischemic therapies. We
demonstrate further that an early increase of von Willebrand
factor is a strong independent predictor of adverse clinical outcome at
both 14 and 30 days of follow-up. Another important finding of this
study is the major treatment effect of enoxaparin observed on von
Willebrand factor levels. The von Willebrand factor
plasma levels increase dramatically over 48 hours in patients treated
by unfractionated heparin, whereas this response is blunted in patients
receiving enoxaparin. This might explain the clinical benefit observed
with enoxaparin in the present substudy and in the main ESSENCE
trial.
-granules,38 and previous reports have shown
that therapeutic doses of enoxaparin reduce significantly thrombin
generation.39 40
![]()
Acknowledgments
We would like to thank Marc Cohen, MD, Allegheny University
Hospital, Philadelphia, Pa, for discussion of the data and expert
revision of the manuscript. We thank M. Novakowski and M.H.
Genevée for their technical assistance.
![]()
Footnotes
Presented in part at the 19th Congress of the European Society of Cardiology, August 1997, Stockholm, Sweden.
![]()
References
Top
Abstract
Introduction
Methods
Results
Discussion
References
1.
Roberts R, Kleiman NS. Earlier diagnosis and
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