IL-6 and lL-17 as potential biomarkers for premature coronary artery disease: a cross-sectional study

TL;DR

This study found that IL-6 and IL-17 are elevated in patients with premature coronary artery disease, suggesting they could serve as potential biomarkers for the condition.

Contribution

The study identifies IL-6 and IL-17 as potential biomarkers for premature coronary artery disease through a cross-sectional analysis of cytokine levels.

Findings

IL-6 and IL-17 levels were significantly higher in patients with premature CAD compared to non-CAD patients.

IL-6 showed strong positive correlations with hsTnI and hsCRP, indicating its inflammatory role.

IL-17, hsTnI, diabetes, and aspirin use were identified as independent risk factors for premature CAD.

Abstract

Coronary artery disease (CAD) is a chronic inflammatory condition, with cytokines playing a crucial role. However, their involvement in premature CAD (pCAD) remains unclear. This study investigates the relationship between cytokines and pCAD.

A total of 986 patients (males ≤ 55 years, females ≤ 65 years) were classified into pCAD and non-CAD groups based on coronary angiography. Serum levels of 12 cytokines, including Interleukin–1β (IL–1β), IL-2, IL-4, IL-5, IL-6, IL-8, IL-10, IL-12p70, IL-17, tumor necrosis factor–α (TNF–α), interferon–α (IFN–α), and IFN-γ, were measured. Spearman correlation and binary logistic regression were used to evaluate the relationship between cytokines and pCAD. The predictive performance of the multivariable logistic regression model was evaluated using ROC curve analysis.

Serum levels of IL-6 (P < 0.001) and IL-17 (P = 0.048) were significantly higher in the pCAD group. In males, both IL-6 (P = 0.039) and IL-17 (P = 0.039) levels were higher compared to non-CAD, while in females, only IL-6 was significantly different (P = 0.008). Moreover, IL-6 showed moderate positive correlations with hsTnI (r = 0.490, P < 0.001) and hsCRP (r = 0.542, P < 0.001). IL-17 (OR = 1.042, 95% CI: 1.005–1.080, P = 0.026), hsTnI (OR = 1.038, 95% CI: 1.008–1.069, P = 0.014), diabetes (OR = 1.903, 95% CI: 1.160–3.121, P = 0.011), and aspirin use (OR = 1.766, 95% CI: 1.131–2.757, P = 0.010) were independent risk factors for pCAD. ROC analysis showed an AUC of 0.792 for the full model and 0.747 for significant predictors.

IL-6 and IL-17 were significantly higher in the pCAD group. IL-6 was positively correlated with hsTnI and hsCRP. IL-17, hsTnI, diabetes, and aspirin use were independent risk factors, highlighting inflammation’s significance in pCAD.

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12872-025-05227-0.

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