Serum PCSK6 and corin levels are not associated with cardiovascular outcomes in patients undergoing coronary angiography

• Published in: PloS one 2019-12, Vol.14 (12), p.e0226129-e0226129
• Main Authors: Yang, Shang-Feng, Chou, Ruey-Hsing, Lin, Shing-Jong, Li, Szu-Yuan, Huang, Po-Hsun
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Analysis; Angiography; Biomarkers - blood; Blood pressure; Cardiac patients; Cardiology; Cardiomyocytes; Cardiovascular disease; Cardiovascular diseases; Cerebral infarction; Chronic kidney failure; Clinical medicine; Confidence intervals; Congestive heart failure; Contrast agents; Contrast media; Coronary Angiography - adverse effects; Coronary artery; Coronary artery bypass; Coronary artery disease; Coronary Artery Disease - diagnosis; Coronary Artery Disease - etiology; Coronary Artery Disease - mortality; Coronary heart disease; Coronary vessels; Critical care; Death; Demographic variables; Demographics; Diabetes; Diabetes mellitus; Diagnostic imaging; Extracellular matrix; Female; Health risks; Heart attack; Heart attacks; Heart failure; Hospitals; Humans; Hypertension; Iopromide; Kaplan-Meier Estimate; Kexin; Kidney diseases; Male; Medical imaging; Medical research; Medicine; Medicine and Health Sciences; Middle Aged; Multivariate Analysis; Myocardial infarction; Myocardial Infarction - diagnosis; Myocardial Infarction - etiology; Nephrology; Patient outcomes; Patients; Peptides; Percutaneous Coronary Intervention; Prognosis; Proportional Hazards Models; Proprotein convertases; Proprotein Convertases - blood; Renal failure; Research and Analysis Methods; Risk; Risk Factors; Serine Endopeptidases - blood; Serum levels; Stroke; Stroke - diagnosis; Stroke - etiology; Studies; Subtilisin; Type 2 diabetes
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0226129

Proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin-6 (PCSK6) is a secretory protein that activates corin in the heart. Higher circulating levels of corin are associated with improved cardiovascular outcomes in patients with acute myocardial infarction. This study aimed to determine the role of serum PCSK6 and corin levels in predicting cardiovascular outcomes in patients with suspected coronary artery disease (CAD). In total, 565 patients who had undergone coronary angiography were enrolled. Serum PCSK6 and corin levels were determined before the administration of contrast media. In this study, coronary revascularization, acute myocardial infarction, acute stroke, and death were defined as cardiovascular outcomes. All patients were followed up for at least one year after coronary angiography or until the occurrence of death. During a median follow-up of 691 days, 67 patients (15.7%) developed composite cardiovascular outcomes after coronary angiography, including 51 incidents of coronary revascularization, 7 instances of acute myocardial infarction, 2 acute strokes, and 15 deaths. After adjustment for demographic characteristics and all significant variables in the univariate analysis, serum levels of neither PCSK6 nor corin were associated with increased risk for cardiovascular outcomes. This correlation remained insignificant in patients with underlying hypertension, diabetes mellitus, CAD, heart failure, or chronic kidney disease (CKD). However, in patients without CKD, higher serum PCSK6 levels were associated with increased risk for cardiovascular outcomes (hazard ratio 1.380; 95% confidence interval 1.023-1.862). We found no association between cardiovascular outcomes and pre-procedural serum levels of PCSK6 or corin in patients undergoing coronary angiography. However, an increased risk was seen in non-CKD patients with higher PCSK6 levels. Further studies are needed to verify these results.