Analysis of monocitary subpopulations in relation to cardiovascular risk factors

Abstract Introduction Monocytes play an important role in atherosclerotic progression having both pro and anti-inflammatory effects depending on different circulating monocyte subpopulations. The objective of this study is to characterise these subpopulations and their association with cardiovascular risk factors. Methods Transversal study including 102 selected patients, mean age: 65 years-old (range 41–86), 69% males. A set of specific antibodies against classical monocytes (Mon1, CD14+CD16− CD300e+HLADR+), intermediate (Mon2, CD14+CD16+CD300e+HLADR+) and non-classical (Mon3, CD14−CD16+CD300e+HLADR+) was assayed. Three groups of patients were included: 17 asymptomatic with more than one cardiovascular risk factor (group 1), 56 subjects asymptomatic but with vascular pathology assessed by ultrasound or microalbuminuria (group 2) and 19 patients with a previous atherothrombotic event (group 3). The cardiovascular risk was determined by Framingham and REGICOR scores. Results An association between study groups and the percentage of Mon1 and Mon2 was observed (ANOVA, p  Moreover the percentage of Mon3 was associated with the presence of several cardiovascular risk factors (β = 0.21, p = 0.04) in the univariate analysis. In addition, there was a correlation between the levels of Mon1 and Mon2 and leukocytes (r = 0.7, p  Conclusions The analysis of monocyte subpopulations may be clinically useful to stratify the inflammatory profile related to the different cardiovascular risk groups.