Identification of candidate biomarkers for coronary artery disease by spectral flow-cytometry

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Presentation Time: 11:30 AM - 12:45 PM
Poster Board Number: B645
Abstract ID: 5688

Presenting Author:
Sunil Kumar , Postdoctoral Fellow at Med. Col. of Georgia, Augusta Univ.

Abstract:

Atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) is a chronic inflammatory disease of the vessel wall with a secondary autoimmune component based on a loss of tolerance to self-antigens. Soluble biomarkers for ASCVD include hsCRP and IL-6, but these are not specific for ASCVD. Cell-based immune biomarkers for ASCVD are not established. Here, we identified surface markers in human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) using spectral flow cytometry. The PBMCs came from the Cardiovascular Assessment Virginia (CAVA) cohort with angiographically verified coronary artery disease (CAD) or not. Cell types were identified by established lineage markers. In myeloid cells, 24 surface markers were labeled and analyzed. In nonclassical monocytes (CD14-CD16+), we found that CD38 was significantly higher in cases than controls (p<2.2E-16). This was also true in all 25 male subjects tested, which was driven by a large signal in 15 younger males (age below median 70). To test the impact of statin use, we stratified male subjects by statin use and diabetes. In both subgroups, CAD cases showed significantly higher CD38 expression in NMOs than controls. In 5 female subjects tested, NMO CD38 expression was also significantly higher in cases than controls. This group was too small to test further subsets. We conclude that CD38 in NMOs is significantly higher in most subjects with CAD and represents a good candidate immune cell surface biomarker that needs to be validated in other cohorts.