Reciprocal Production of Adiponectin and C-reactive Protein in Coronary Circulation of Patients with and without Coronary Artery Disease

Introduction

The adipocyte-specific plasma protein adiponectin was originally isolated from human adipose tissues. Adiponectin has anti-atherosclerotic properties such as the suppression of adhesion molecule expression on endothelial cells, the proliferation of vascular smooth muscle cells, and the transformation of macrophages to foam cells. Systemic clinical hypoadiponectinemia is closely associated with obesity, type 2 diabetes, and coronary artery disease (CAD) [1]. These data suggest that adiponectin contributes to suppressing the initiation and progression of atherosclerosis. We already reported that adiponectin is locally produced in the coronary circulation and might participate in modulating the coronary circulation [2]. Iacobellis et al. recently showed that epicardial adipose tissue expresses adiponectin protein and that the level is significantly lower in patients with, than in those without, CAD [3]. Locally produced adiponectin might exert local anti-atherosclerotic action on the adjacent coronary artery [3]. These findings together indicate that the locally produced adiponectin in the coronary circulation might be at least partly attributable to its production and secretion from epicardial adipose tissue and affect coronary atherosclerosis. However, whether the plasma level of adiponectin in the coronary circulation varies with the presence of CAD remains unknown. We therefore investigated the relationship between the presence of CAD and the amount of adiponectin production in the coronary circulation and compared with the amount of C-reactive protein (CRP) in the coronary circulation of patients with and without CAD.

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