Study On The Relationship Between Serum Relaxin Levels And Coronary Heart Disease

BackgroundCoronary atherosclerotic heart disease refers to coronary stenosis or obstruction caused by atherosclerosis, it leads to myocardial ischemia and hypoxia.Coronary atherosclerotic heart disease together with coronary functional changes(coronary artery spasm) are collectively referred to coronary heart disease(CHD).As everyone knows, coronary heart disease is the most common disease that caused by atherosclerosis, and a large number of clinical studies show that atherosclerosis advanced since childhood and developing gradually, that generally shows a corresponding clinical symptoms to middle-aged and old period.With the rapid development of economic and social life, unhealthy lifestyle and living standards of people prevails, and the incidence of CHD is increasing year by year and it has become one of the most important diseases threatening the life and health of people. Therefore, a better understanding of the pathogenesis might lead to early discovery, early prevention and early treatment of CHD, which has important theoretical and clinical significance.Relaxin is a small peptide hormone(6 kDa) that is primarily produced by the corpus luteum, decidua, and placenta during pregnancy. Relaxin was discovered by Frederick Hisaw when observe the changes of the pelvic girdle during pregnancy in 1926. From being one of the earliest hormones described with a very specific function in parturition, recent research has now shown that it is involved in a variety of roles, from endometrial differentiation during embryo implantation, to being a response factor in infarct and wound situations. The latest research shows that the blood levels of relaxin could help for the diagnosis and prognosis of some diseases. However, the levels of relaxin in patients with CHD, and the possible relationship between relaxin and CHD, have not been reported currently. Therefore, the main purpose of this study is to explore the effect of relaxin level on the severity and prognosis of coronary heart disease. ObjectivesThe purpose of this study was to observe the levels of serum relaxin in patients with different types of coronary heart disease, and to evaluate the coronary artery with Gensini score combined with coronary angiography results, then to explore the relationship between relaxin levels and severity of coronary artery disease. Our aim expects to provide a meaningful reference for the clinical diagnosis, treatment and prognosis in patients with coronary heart disease. MethodsThe 187 patients in this study were randomly selected from the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University between Sept, 2013 and Sept, 2015 on the basis of the clinical history, laboratory examination, electrocardiogram and coronary angiography results. 60 cases of patients were confirmed by coronary angiography were recruited as control group.All patients were collected in detail about the clinical history and all the general clinical data were collected, the general biochemical indicators and the concentration of serum relaxin were assayed, and the coronary gensini score was calculated by using special computer software. Results1. The levels of serum relaxin were significantly higher in patients with coronary heart disease than those of patients in control group(P< 0.05). The levels of serum relaxin were remarkably higher in patients of unstable angina pectoris group and acute myocardial infarction group than those of patients in the stable angina pectoris group(P<0.05). The levels of relaxin in the patients with acute myocardial infarction were higher than those in the unstable angina group, but the difference was not statistically significance(P>0.05).2. With the more branches of coronary lesions involved, the blood levels of relaxin increased accordingly, all P< 0.05.3. Serum relaxin levels were correlated positively with coronary gensini score(P< 0.05). Conclusion1. The levels of serum relaxin were significantly increased in patients with coronary heart disease, which suggests that relaxin is involved in the occurrence of coronary heart disease.2. The levels of serum relaxin were significantly higher in patients with acute coronary syndrome than those of patients with unstable angina pectoris, suggesting that the relaxin is likely to reflect the stability of plaque in patients with coronary heart disease.3. Among patients those with coronary artery disease, the levels of relaxin were positively correlated with the gensini score of coronary artery, suggesting that relaxin reflects the range and degree of coronary artery stenosis.4. Serum relaxin is expected to become a new biomarker for predicting the extent of lesions in the coronary artery and the prognosis in patients with coronary heart disease, which has a high accuracy and clinical significance.