3, 4 However, human genetic evidence has reduced the likelihood that these liver-derived factors are causally relevant. Previous epidemiological studies have mainly reported on associations between ‘downstream’ markers of inflammation with the risk of incident CHD. In meta-analysis of up to 29 population-based prospective studies, adjusted relative risks for non-fatal MI or CHD death per 1-SD higher levels were: 1.25 (1.19–1.32) for IL-6 1.13 (1.05–1.20) for IL-18 1.07 (0.97–1.19) for MMP-9 1.07 (0.95–1.21) for sCD40L and 1.17 (1.09–1.25) for TNF-α.Īs inflammatory processes may play an important role in the pathogenesis of vascular disease, 1, 2 there is interest in the relevance of circulating markers of inflammation to coronary heart disease (CHD).
Interleukin-6 (IL-6), IL-18, matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9), soluble CD40 ligand (sCD40L), and tumour necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) were measured at baseline in a case-cohort study of 1514 participants and 833 incident CHD events within population-based prospective cohorts at the Danish Research Centre for Prevention and Health.