A novel protein glycan biomarker and future cardiovascular disease events

Background-glycosylated proteins partake in multiple cellular processes including inflammation. we hypothesized that glyca,a novel biomarker of protein glycan n-acetyl groups,is related to incident cardiovascular disease (cvd),and we compared it with high-sensitivity c-reactive protein (hscrp). methods and results-in 27 491 initially healthy women,baseline glyca was quantified by nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy and hscrp by an immunoturbidimetric assay. during median follow-up of 17.2 years,1648 incident cvd events occurred (myocardial infarction,ischemic stroke,coronary revascularization,and cvd death). glyca and hscrp were moderately correlated (spearman r=0.61,p<0.0001). in cox regression models that included age,ethnicity,smoking,blood pressure,medications,menopausal status,body mass index,and diabetes,hazard ratios for cvd across quartiles 1 to 4 of glyca were 1.00,1.10 (95% ci,0.92 to 1.30),1.34 (95% ci,1.13 to 1.58),and 1.64 (95% ci,1.39 to 1.93),similar to hscrp,for which hazard ratios were 1.00,1.18 (95% ci,0.99 to 1.41),1.35 (95% ci,1.14 to 1.61),and 1.75 (95% ci,1.47 to 2.09) (both ptrend<0.0001). associations were attenuated after additionally adjusting for lipids: the hazard ratio of quartile 4 versus 1 for glyca was 1.23 (95% ci,1.04 to 1.46; ptrend=0.002) and for hscrp was 1.44 (95% ci,1.20 to 1.72; ptrend<0.0001). further adjustment for the other biomarker resulted in a hazard ratio of quartile 4 versus 1 for glyca of 1.03 (95% ci,0.85 to 1.24; ptrend=0.41) and for hscrp of 1.29 (95% ci,1.06 to 1.56; ptrend=0.001). conclusions-in this prospective study of initially healthy women,baseline glyca was associated with incident cvd,consistent with a possible role for protein glycans in inflammation and cvd. © 2014 the authors. published on behalf of the american heart association,inc.,by wiley blackwell.