Elsevier

Atherosclerosis

Volume 233, Issue 2, April 2014, Pages 429-433
Atherosclerosis

High hexacosanoic acid levels are associated with coronary artery disease

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atherosclerosis.2014.01.031Get rights and content

Highlights

  • We examined circulating C26:0 levels in CAD patients and controls.

  • Circulating C26:0 levels increased in CAD patients.

  • Circulating C26:0 levels was associated with BMI, triglycerides and hypertension.

  • Circulating C26:0 levels was associated with metabolic syndrome.

  • High circulating C26:0 levels was an independent predictor of CAD.

Abstract

Aims

Levels of saturated very long chain fatty acids (VLCFAs) are associated with coronary risk factors, including metabolic syndrome (MS), atherogenic lipoproteins, and systemic inflammation. However, the relationship between circulating levels of saturated VLCFA and coronary artery disease (CAD) remains unclear.

Method

We enrolled 100 consecutive CAD patients and 40 age-, gender-, and body mass index (BMI)-matched healthy control subjects. The levels of hexacosanoic acid (C26:0), a VLCFA, in whole blood were measured by gas–liquid chromatography mass spectrometry.

Results

C26:0 levels were significantly higher in the CAD group than in the control group (2.42 ± 0.32 vs. 2.27 ± 0.24 μg/ml, P = 0.01) and positively correlated with BMI (r = 0.23, P = 0.008), triglyceride levels (r = 0.22, P = 0.01), and hypertension (P = 0.01). CAD patients with MS showed the highest C26:0 levels adjusted by hematocrit. Furthermore, adjusted C26:0 levels in CAD patients without MS were higher than those in controls (P = 0.02), suggesting that C26:0 levels increased with the presence of CAD independent of MS. Our multivariate analysis revealed that high C26:0 levels in whole blood is an independent marker for CAD even after adjustment for age, gender, BMI, lipid profiles, fasting plasma glucose, and blood pressure.

Conclusion

High C26:0 levels in whole blood may be an independent marker for identifying the risks of CAD.

Introduction

Saturated very long chain fatty acids (VLCFAs) are minor fatty acid components in human tissues and bloodstream. However, levels of C26:0, one of the saturated VLCFAs, in erythrocytes are associated with risks of age-related diseases [1]. A recent report suggested that peroxisome-related alterations and increased VLCFAs may contribute to the progression of Alzheimer's disease [2], [3]. We also reported that absolute C26:0 levels in whole blood are significantly associated with metabolic syndrome (MS) [4]. Furthermore, increased levels of another saturated VLCFA, C24:0, in erythrocytes was found to correlate with atherogenic lipoprotein profiles and inflammatory states measured by high-sensitivity C reactive protein (hs-CRP) [5]. However, few studies have investigated correlations between C26:0 levels and coronary artery disease (CAD).

To our knowledge, this is the first study to demonstrate that C26:0 levels are significantly higher in CAD patients than in healthy control subjects. C26:0 levels significantly correlated with several coronary risk factors, thus representing an independent risk factor for CAD after adjustment for other coronary risk markers.

Section snippets

Study subjects

Our previous study showed mean and standard deviation (SD) of C26:0 levels in healthy subjects was 2.25 ± 0.29 μg/ml whereas C26:0 levels were 2.42 ± 0.31 μg/ml in subjects with MS [4]. Therefore, we estimated a difference in mean C26:0 levels of 0.3 μg/ml between CAD patients and healthy controls, and a SD in C26:0 of 0.3 μg/ml. At least 34 subjects were needed in each group to have 80% power at the 5% significance levels to detect the anticipated difference between the two groups. Finally, we

Characteristics of study subjects

The characteristics of the subjects in the present study are shown in Table 1. The two groups were not significantly different in terms of age, gender, BMI, and smoking status. The CAD group more often had a history of hypertension, diabetes mellitus, and dyslipidemia (P < 0.001, respectively). In the CAD group, plasma TC and TG levels were significantly increased and HDL-C levels were significantly decreased compared with the controls (P < 0.001, respectively). However, plasma LDL-C levels

Discussion

This is the first study to demonstrate that levels of the saturated VLCFA, C26:0, in whole blood were significantly higher in CAD patients than in healthy control subjects. We observed that C26:0 levels positively correlated with several features of MS, such as BMI, TG and hypertension and that C26:0 was an independent predictor of CAD after adjustment for age, gender, and the components of MS.

Fatty acid beta-oxidation occurs in both peroxisomes and mitochondria. VLCFAs (>C20) are primarily

Conclusion

We demonstrated the correlation between saturated VLCFA C26:0 and CAD. In particular, we found that circulating C26:0 was an independent predictor of CAD after adjustment for age, gender, and MS components, thereby being a potential risk factor for the development of CAD.

Acknowledgment

The authors would like to thank Dr. Hirotaka Takizawa and Dr. Kiyotaka Fujii (Nagasu Kashiwado clinic) for their assistance in data collection of study subjects and Enago (www.enago.jp) for the English language review.

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