Kadoglou NPE, Korakas E, Lampropoulos S, et al. - Potent factors of atherosclerosis include nesfatin-1, a novel adipokine and dipeptidyl peptidase-4 (DPP4), a mam malian serine protease. Findings from this cross-sectional study suggest that patients with coronary artery disease (CAD) show increased serum DPP4 levels, while there was a negative correlation of serum nesfatin-1 levels with both the incidence and the severity of CAD; this was noted independent of the presence of diabetes mellitus. Further, there was a strong correlation of both peptides with high-sensitivity CRP (hsCRP).

• Enrolled were a total of 240 patients with significant CAD (previous revascularization or angiographically-proven coronary artery stenosis > 50%) who presented with either unstable angina (UA, N = 76) or stable chronic CAD (SCAD, N = 165) and 85 patients with at least 2 classical cardiovascular risk factors but without significant CAD as controls.

• Both CAD groups (UA & SCAD) had low nesfatin-1 levels relative to controls.

• Significant correlation of nesfatin-1 was observed with hsCRP, HOMA-IR and hyperlipidemia.

• A negative correlation was observed between nesfatin-1 and the severity of CAD.