%0 Journal Article
%T Chemokines and incident coronary heart disease: results from the MONICA/KORA Augsburg case-cohort study, 1984-2002.
%A Herder C
%A Baumert J
%A Thorand B
%A Martin S
%A Löwel H
%A Kolb H
%A Koenig W
%J Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol
%V 26
%N 9
%D Sep 2006
%M 16825597
%F 10.514
%R 10.1161/01.ATV.0000235691.84430.86
%X <B>OBJECTIVE: </B>The chemokines monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1/CCL2), interleukin-8 (IL-8/CXCL8), and interferon-gamma-inducible protein-10 (IP-10/CXCL10) have been reported to be involved in the development of atherosclerosis and type 2 diabetes. The aim of this study was to assess whether elevated systemic levels of these chemokines precede coronary events.<BR><B>RESULTS: </B>We investigated MCP-1, IL-8, and IP-10 serum levels in a case-cohort design based on data from 381 individuals (294 men, 87 women) with and 1977 individuals (1006 men, 971 women) without incident coronary heart disease (CHD) from the prospective, population-based MONICA/KORA Augsburg study (1984 to 2002). The mean follow-up time was 11.0 years. Baseline concentrations were significantly higher in cases compared with noncases (P < or = 0.001 for all chemokines). MCP-1 and IL-8 remained associated with CHD risk after adjustment for age, sex, and survey with hazard ratios (95% confidence intervals) comparing extreme tertiles of 1.39 (1.05 to 1.84) for MCP-1 and 1.48 (1.10 to 1.99) for IL-8. However, adjustment for further cardiovascular and immunologic risk factors attenuated the observed associations, and they became nonsignificant.<BR><B>CONCLUSIONS: </B>Elevated systemic levels of the chemokines MCP-1, IL-8, and IP-10 precede CHD but do not represent independent risk factors. Thus, the associations are less pronounced than previously shown for type 2 diabetes.