Association between lecithin: cholesterol acyltransferase activity and coronary artery disease

Objective To assess the relationship between serum lecithin: cholesterol acyltransferase (LCAT) activity and angiographically defined coronary artery disease (CAD). Methods This study is a case-control study. A total of 425 hospitalized patients underwent coronary angiography in Beijing Hospital from November 2014 to August 2015 were included. Patients were divided into CAD group (n=341) and non-CAD control group (n=84) according to coronary angiogram results. Serum LCAT activities were determined by high performance liquid chromatography , and the relationship between LCAT activity and CAD and other risk factors was analyzed. Results Serum LCAT activities were significantly higher in CAD group than in non-CAD control group [(37.3±9.7)nKat/L vs. (34.8±8.8)nKat/L, P=0.03]. There were significant differences in high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), ApoAI and glucose (all P<0.05). Correlation analyses showed that LCAT activities were positively correlated with body mass index (r=0.09), triglyceride (r=0.30), ApoB (r=0.22) and glucose (r=0.09), and negatively correlated with HDL-C (r=-0.26) (all P<0.05). The single factor logistic regression analysis showed that LCAT activity was an independent risk factor for CAD (OR=3.11, 95%CI: 1.40-6.91, P=0.005). After adjusted for age, gender, HDL-C, ApoAI, and glucose, LCAT activity was independently positively correlated with CAD (OR=3.28, 95%CI: 1.27-8.50, P=0.014). Conclusions Elevated serum LCAT activity is independently associated with angiographically defined CAD, but more research is needed. Key words: Lecithin: cholesterol acyltransferase; Coronary artery disease; Risk factors