| Summary: | Data linking in vivo platelet activation with inflammation and cardiovascular risk factors are scarce. Moreover, the interrelation between endothelial dysfunction as early marker of atherosclerosis and platelet activation has not been studied, so far. We therefore sought to investigate the associations of inflammation, endothelial dysfunction and cardiovascular risk factors with platelet activation and monocyte-platelet aggregate (MPA) formation in 330 patients undergoing angioplasty with stent implantation for atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease. P-selectin expression, activation of glycoprotein IIb/IIIa and MPA formation were determined by flow cytometry. Interleukin (IL)-6, high sensitivity C-reactive protein and asymmetric dimethylarginine (ADMA) were measured by commercially available assays. IL-6 was the only parameter which was independently associated with platelet P-selectin expression and activated GPIIb/IIIa as well as with leukocyte-platelet interaction in multivariate regression analysis (all p<0.05). ADMA was independently associated with GPIIb/IIIa activation (p<0.05). Patients with high IL-6 exhibited a significantly higher expression of P-selectin than patients with low IL-6 (p=0.001), whereas patients with high ADMA levels showed a more pronounced activation of GPIIb/IIIa than patients with low ADMA (p=0.003). In conclusion, IL-6 and ADMA are associated with platelet activation after percutaneous angioplasty with stent implantation. It remains to be established whether they act prothrombotic and atherogenic themselves or are just surrogate markers for atherosclerosis with concomitant platelet activation.
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