Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0004153 (atherosclerosis)
 77,401 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

The circulating form of a membrane-bound intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1), has been the source of recent debate as a candidate marker of vascular inflammation in atherosclerosis and myocardial infarction, although its increased levels were also observed in other diseases affecting the cardiovascular system, such as myocarditis, inflammatory cardiomyopathy and heart failure per se. Faulty dietary habits, a sedentary mode of life, smoking, and alcohol abuse, are factors which at least in part contribute to atherosclerosis. This paper describes the responses of sICAM-1 levels to nutrients, physical activity, smoke exposure and alcohol consumption.
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PMID:Soluble ICAM-1: a marker of vascular inflammation and lifestyle. 1591 14

Atherosclerosis is accelerated in dialysis patients and cardiovascular mortality is up to 20 times higher than in the general population. Cardiac troponin T (cTnT) is a sensitive marker of myocardial necrosis and studies have confirmed the superiority of this marker over traditional cardiac enzymes. Elevated cTnT has been observed in patients with various degrees of renal failure and treatment modalities in the absence of an acute coronary event. The possibility that increased troponins reflect decreased clearance or analytical interference from uremic serum is unlikely. It is accepted that cTnT detected in serum from patients with end-stage renal failure is derived from myocytes and this effect could be caused by subclinical myocardial ischemic release of troponin, myocardial remodeling, or from uremic pericarditis or myocarditis. The significance of cTnT in patients with different degrees of renal failure and different treatment modalities is presented in this review.
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PMID:Cardiac troponin T in patients with kidney disease. 1596 89

Osteopontin (OPN) and CD44 have been implicated in the development of autoimmune diseases, including arthritis and multiple sclerosis, as well as chronic inflammatory diseases, such as atherosclerosis and colitis. To investigate their roles in autoimmune myocarditis induced by immunization with heart alpha-myosin (MyHC-alpha), a mouse model of human cardiomyopathy, we analyzed mice lacking OPN or CD44v6/v7, a CD44 isoform that binds OPN. Both, OPN(-/-) and CD44v6/v7(-/-) mice developed myocarditis with the same prevalence and severity as BALB/c wild-type controls. Furthermore, treatment of BALB/c mice with a pan-neutralizing anti-CD44 antibody did not affect the disease outcome. Consistently, expansion of MyHC-alpha-specific autoimmune CD4(+) T cells and MyHC-alpha autoantibody responses from either CD44v6/v7(-/-) mice or OPN(-/-) mice was indistinguishable from their wild-type controls. Thus, OPN and CD44v6/v7 are merely spectators rather than protagonists in autoimmune myocarditis.
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PMID:The osteopontin - CD44 pathway is superfluous for the development of autoimmune myocarditis. 1640 10

The survival of patients with HIV infection who have access to highly active antiretroviral therapy has dramatically increased. In HIV-infected persons, cardiovascular disease can be associated with HIV infection, opportunistic infections or neoplasias, use of antiretroviral drugs or treatment of opportunistic complications, mode of HIV acquisition (such as intravenous drug use), or with the classic non-HIV-related cardiovascular risk factors (such as smoking or age). Diseases of the heart associated with HIV infection or its opportunistic complications include pericarditis and myocarditis. Pericarditis may lead to pericardial effusion rarely causing tamponade. Cardiomyopathy is often clinically silent with asymptomatic left ventricular systolic dysfunction. Endocarditis is mainly the consequence of intravenous drug abuse, possibly leading to life-threatening valvular insufficiency with the need for cardiac surgery. A further serious condition associated with HIV infection is pulmonary hypertension potentially leading to right heart failure. The cardiovascular complications of HIV infection such as cardiomyopathy and pericarditis have been reduced by highly active antiretroviral therapy, but premature coronary atherosclerosis is now a growing problem because antiretroviral drugs can lead to serious metabolic disturbances resembling those in the metabolic syndrome. Lipodystrophy, a clinical syndrome of peripheral fat wasting, central adiposity, dyslipidemia, and insulin resistance, is most prevalent among patients treated with protease inhibitors. These patients should thus be screened for hyperlipidemia, hyperglycemia, and hypertension, and they may be candidates for lipid-lowering therapies. When initiating lipid-lowering therapy, interactions between statins and HIV protease inhibitors affecting cytochrome P450 function must be considered. Restenosis rate after percutaneous coronary intervention may be unexpectedly high.
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PMID:Cardiovascular disease in HIV infection. 1678 Dec 13

An autopsy case of carbamazepine overdose with focal myocarditis is reported. The decedent was a 33-year-old female with a history of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, who reportedly took 5-day dose of prescribed medications at around midnight. Although she stayed home following the direction of the physician, she was pronounced dead 8h after the intake. At autopsy she was obese, and her face was slightly swollen. The 420 g heart was free of coronary atherosclerosis, and the myocardium had no obvious scars. Both the left and right lungs were markedly congested and edematous. Strong congestion was also noted in the brain and visceral organs. Microscopic examination disclosed focal infiltration of inflammatory cells, most of which were lymphocytes, into the myocardium. In the toxicological analyses, carbamazepine concentration in the blood was 9.9 microg/ml, and other medications were below the toxic levels. It was considered that under the compromised cardiac function due to myocarditis presumably induced by some prescribed medications, and obesity, the carbamazepine overdose deteriorated her condition by triggering critical arrhythmia or congestive heart failure.
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PMID:A case of carbamazepine overdose with focal myocarditis. 1682 Mar 15

Myocardial infarction with angiographically normal coronary arteries was recognized more than 30 years ago. Since then, various series of patients with such condition have been described, but the etiology and pathogenesis still remain a matter of debate. Evidence exists for a role of coronary vasospasm, thrombosis, embolization and inflammation, per se or combined, in determining the occurrence of myocardial infarction with angiographically normal coronary arteries. Endothelial dysfunction, possibly superimposed to non-angiographically evident atherosclerosis, may be an underlying common feature predisposing to the acute event. Additionally, myocarditis may explain some of these occurrences. Myocardial infarction with normal coronary arteries is therefore likely to be the result of multiple pathogenetic mechanisms. Although most reports emphasize the good prognosis of this condition, in general much better than myocardial infarction with coronary artery disease, prognosis is likely variable according to the underlying mechanism. This review summarizes current knowledge on this condition and examines areas of recent progress.
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PMID:[Myocardial infarction with normal coronary arteries: a condition with multiple etiology and variable prognosis]. 1697 87

Several types of cardiovascular lesions may develop in pediatric human immunodeficiency virus-positive (HIV+)/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) patients, namely myocarditis, dilated cardiomyopathy, pericardial effusion, pericarditis, left ventricle hypertrophy, fibrocalcific arteriopathy, and aneurysms. Additional lesions may be discovered by histological examination. These include fibrocalcific lesions in medium-sized arteries and small vessels, mainly of the heart and brain, and vasculitis. In the large arteries the vasa vasorum may present chronic inflammatory infiltrates or leukocytoclastic vasculitis, resulting in aneurysms. We are reporting the case of a 14-year-old girl with mother-to-infant HIV transmission with a long history of several central nervous system infections and AIDS dementia, who received treatment with the HAART protocol (including a protease inhibitor) for 3 years. A year after beginning this treatment, cholesterol serum levels were 2.8 g/L and 3.8 g/L. Autopsy findings showed gross and microscopic features of adult-type atherosclerosis involving the whole thoracic aorta, its main branches, and the coronary arteries. Remarkably, the abdominal aorta and all its branches were almost completely devoid of these lesions. At the same time, although the body presented extreme cachexia, there were obvious subepericardial, periadrenal, and peripancreatic fat deposits. The referred findings may have resulted from the well-known metabolic-dyslipemic syndrome induced by the HAART therapy and have not been specifically mentioned previously in the literature in the particular setting observed in the case of this patient.
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PMID:Atherosclerosis and central adiposity in a pediatric patient with AIDS treated with HAART: autopsy findings. 1716 94

Chymase is a potent and specific angiotensin II (Ang II)-forming enzyme in vitro. There is also strong evidence to suggest its importance in vivo. Recent clinical studies have suggested that high serum cholesterol levels are associated with increased vascular chymase activity and this may assist in the development of atherosclerosis. This clinical finding has been reproduced in hamster models. Studies with transgenic mice overexpressing the human chymase gene suggest a direct association between vascular chymase upregulation and atherogenesis. There is also increased chymase activity following various cardiac diseases such as myocardial ischaemia, volume overload cardiac failure, cardiomyopathy and viral myocarditis, suggesting that increased cardiac chymase activity appears to be involved in cardiac remodelling.
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PMID:Pathological involvement of chymase-dependent angiotensin II formation in the development of cardiovascular disease. 1719 19

Cardiovascular disease has been well documented in patients with Human Immunodeficiency Virus infection, especially after the introduction of highly active antiretroviral therapy. At present, HIV infection is one of the leading causes of acquired cardiovascular disease including heart failure. Some of the changes observed in these patients include left ventricular systolic dysfunction, dilated cardiomyopathy, congestive heart failure, myocarditis, lipodystrophy, dyslipidemia, insulin resistance, accelerated atherosclerosis including myocardial infarction, prothrombotic state, pericardial effusion, pulmonary hypertension, autonomic dysfunction, and malignancy. This article summarizes the main findings in the principal HIV-associated cardiovascular manifestations in order to stimulate its early recognition so helping in early intervention and therapy.
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PMID:Cardiovascular disease in HIV infection. 1720 95

The existence of myocardial infarction despite angiographically normal coronary arteries was recognized more than 30 years ago. Since then, various series of such patients have been described, but the aetiology and pathogenesis of the condition are still a source of debate. Evidence exists for a role of coronary vasospasm, thrombosis, embolization and inflammation, per se or combined, in determining the occurrence of myocardial infarction in the presence of angiographically normal coronary arteries. Endothelial dysfunction, possibly superimposed to nonangiographically evident atherosclerosis, may be an underlying common feature predisposing to the acute event. Additionally, myocarditis may explain some of these occurrences. Myocardial infarction with normal coronary arteries is therefore likely the result of multiple pathogenetic mechanisms. Although most reports emphasize the good prognosis of this condition, in general much better than myocardial infarction with coronary artery disease, prognosis is likely variable according to the underlying mechanism. This review summarizes current knowledge on this condition and examines areas of recent progress.
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PMID:Myocardial infarction with normal coronary arteries: a conundrum with multiple aetiologies and variable prognosis: an update. 1739 Nov 8


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