Increased Incidence of Ischemic Cerebrovascular Events in Cardiovascular Patients With Elevated Apolipoprotein CIII

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE—Apo CIII (apolipoprotein CIII), a crucial regulator of lipoprotein metabolism, has been associated with increased activity of coagulation factors and thrombin generation and, in turn, with an increased risk of thromboembolic events in both arterial and venous districts. Thus, we hypothesized that it may affect the risk of acute ischemic cerebrovascular events in cardiovascular patients. METHODS—We systematically checked medical records and quantified cerebral ischemic events in a cohort of 950 subjects (median age 65 with interquartile range, 55–79 years; 30.7% females) with or without angiographically defined coronary artery disease (CAD774 CAD and 176 CAD-free, respectively). All the subjects, enrolled between May 1999 and December 2006, were prospectively followed until death or July 31, 2018. Assessments of complete plasma lipid and apolipoprotein profiles, including Apo A-I, B, CIII, and E, were available for all subjects at enrollment. RESULTS—After a median follow-up of 130 months (interquartile range, 69–189), 95 subjects (10%) suffered ischemic stroke/transient ischemic attack (TIA) events. Stroke/TIA subjects had higher Apo CIII plasma concentration (11.4; interquartile range9.3–14.4 mg/dL) at enrollment than those without stroke/TIA (10.4, interquartile range8.7–13.0 mg/dL). Subjects with Apo CIII levels above the median value (10.6 mg/dL) exhibited an ≈2-fold increased risk of stroke/TIA, even after adjustment for potential confounders, including sex, age, CAD diagnosis, hypertension, atrial fibrillation, oral anticoagulant treatment, and all plasma lipid parameters (hazard ratio2.23 [95% CI, 1.21–4.13]). This result was confirmed in CAD and CAD-free populations, separately, and even by a propensity score matching method, in which 98 CAD and 98 CAD-free subjects were one-to-one matched for all clinical and laboratory characteristics. CONCLUSIONS—These findings suggest that a high Apo CIII plasma concentration may predict an increased risk of ischemic stroke/TIA in cardiovascular patients.