Abstract 12856: Interleukin-33 and Soluble ST2 Are Expressed in Human Nonrheumatic Aortic Valve Stenosis

BACKGROUND The number of patients with nonrheumatic aortic valve stenosis (NR-AS) is increasing in recent years. Many studies demonstrated that the etiology of NR-AS is associated with a pathophysiology of atherosclerosis. Inflammations play an important role in the pathogenesis of not only atherosclerosis but also NR-AS. IL-33 is a recent identified cytokine of the IL-1 family, and has immunomodulatory functions. Soluble ST2 (sST2) is a secreted form IL-33 receptor which is secreted in response to inflammatory signals, and inhibits to bind of IL-33 to ST2L, as a decoy receptor of ST2L. IL-33 plays a protective role in the development of atherosclerosis through inhibition of inflammatory response to the accumulating lipid in the vessel wall. The role of IL-33 and ST2 in NR-AS has not been investigated. Therefore, we investigated the expression and cellular localization of IL-33 and sST2 in human NR-AS valve. METHODS Aortic valve samples were collected from 67 patients undergoing valve replacement surgery ...