Endocan expression correlated with total volume of coronary artery dilation in patients with coronary artery ectasia

Introduction
Inflammation and angiogenesis disturbances are considered as factors contributing to the development of coronary artery ectasias (CAE). Endocan (endothelial cell-specific molecule-1 – ESM-1) regulates both inflammatory and angiogenetic processes. However, there are no data about the correlation between endocan level and the severity of CAE measured with total volume of coronary artery dilation.

Aim
To assess whether the severity of the inflammatory process measured as endocan concentration correlates with the total volume of CAE.

Material and methods
We selected prospectively a total of 43 consecutive patients with coronary artery ectasia from 2240 patients who underwent coronary angiography in our center. Determination of endocan was performed by using the Human Endothelial cell-specific Molecule 1 (ECSM1/ENDOCAN) ELISA Kit. 3D QCA (three-dimensional quantitative coronary angiography) was used for coronary lesion and aneurysm quantification. The total volume of dilation was defined as the volume of all aneurysms and ectasias of coronary arteries in 1 patient.

Results
The mean volume of all aneurysms in 1 patient was 677 ±878.7 mm3. The total aneurysm volume was positively strongly correlated with endocan concentration (Pearson correlation coefficient: 0.811; 2-tailed p < 0.001).

Conclusions
Endocan is a potential marker of vascular wall damage mainly as a result of inflammation in the course of atherosclerosis, but also vascular remodeling as a result of a disturbance of pro- and anti-angiogenic processes. Endocan level reflects the intensity of the above processes and therefore correlates with the severity of CAE, measured as the total volume of dilation.