Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2020 Oct;22(10):e3236.
doi: 10.1002/jgm.3236. Epub 2020 Jul 19.

Human cytomegalovirus infection is correlated with atherosclerotic plaque vulnerability in carotid artery

Dan Li  1 , Bo Li  1 , Ling Yang  2 , Jiawei Wang  2   3
Affiliations

Human cytomegalovirus infection is correlated with atherosclerotic plaque vulnerability in carotid artery

Dan Li et al. J Gene Med. 2020 Oct.

Abstract

Background: Several studies have suggested that human cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection is closely related to the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis. The present study aimed to investigate the association between human CMV infection and carotid atherosclerotic plaque vulnerability in a Chinese population.

Methods: In total, 42 patients with carotid atherosclerosis (observation group) and 30 healthy volunteers (control group) were recruited in our study from October 2016 to January 2018. Statistical analysis was carried out to calculate the infection rate of CMV in subjects. Spearman's rank analysis was performed to evaluate the correlation between CMV infection and atherosclerotic plaque vulnerability.

Results: The positive rate of CMV was significantly higher in the observation group compared to the control group, and matrix metalloproteinase 9 (MMP-9), tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) and lectin-like oxidized low density lipoprotein receptor-1 (LOX-1) expression levels were also elevated in the observation group compared to those in the control group. In carotid atherosclerotic patients, the detection rate of unstable plaques and the Crouse scores in vulnerable plaque were significantly higher in the CMV-positive group compared to those in the CMV-negative group. As revealed by correlation analysis, CMV infection was significantly positively correlated with plaque vulnerability and expression levels of MMP-9, TNF-α and LOX-1 in carotid atherosclerotic patients.

Conclusions: Human CMV infection might be a potential risk factor for increased plaque vulnerability in patients with carotid atherosclerosis.

Keywords: carotid atherosclerosis; human cytomegalovirus; matrix metalloproteinase-9; plaque.

PubMed Disclaimer

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

References

REFERENCES

    1. Dong H, Du T, Premaratne S, et al. Relationship between ADAMTS4 and carotid atherosclerotic plaque vulnerability in humans. J Vasc Surg. 2018;67:1120-1126.
    1. Ruddy JM, Ikonomidis JS, Jones JA. Multidimensional contribution of matrix Metalloproteinases to atherosclerotic plaque vulnerability: multiple mechanisms of inhibition to promote stability. J Vasc Res. 2016;53:1-16.
    1. Kaperonis EA, Liapis CD, Kakisis JD, Dimitroulis D, Papavassiliou VG. Inflammation and atherosclerosis. Eur J Vasc Endovasc Surg. 2006;31:386-393.
    1. Virmani R, Burke AP, Farb A, Kolodgie FD. Pathology of the vulnerable plaque. J Am Coll Cardiol. 2006;47:C13-C18.
    1. Martinez-Rodriguez JE, Munne-Collado J, Rasal R, et al. Expansion of the NKG2C+ natural killer-cell subset is associated with high-risk carotid atherosclerotic plaques in seropositive patients for human cytomegalovirus. Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol. 2013;33:2653-2659.

Publication types

MeSH terms