Premature Coronary Artery Disease and Plasma Levels of Interleukins; a Systematic Scoping Review and Meta-Analysis

Interleukins (ILs) can act as a predictive indicator of Premature Coronary Artery Disease (pCAD) and may be useful in screening of high-risk patients. However, there is no consensus on the relationship of serum levels of ILs and pCAD, yet. As a result, this study has been conducted in order to review the literature on the relationship between serum levels of different ILs and pCAD.

Medline, Scopus, Embase, and Web of Science databases were searched until December 7th 2020. Two reviewers independently screened and summarized eligible articles. A meta-analysis was performed to assess the relationship of ILs and pCAD.

12 case-control articles were included. IL-6 plasma changes do happen in pCAD patients with a standardized mean difference (SMD) of 0.51 (95% CI: 0.12-0.90; p=0.010) compared with the control group. This difference was also observed when evaluating the plasma levels of IL-1 and IL-17, with an SMD of 1.42 (95% CI: 1.11-1.73; p<0.001) and 0.59 (95% CI: 0.14-1.04; p=0.011), respectively. Meanwhile, no significant difference existed in plasma levels of IL-10 (SMD=0.26; 95% CI: -0.17-0.70; p=0.236), and IL-18 (SMD=1.44; 95% CI: -0.19-3.07; p=0.083) between pCAD patients and those in the control group.

Low level of evidence showed that there may be a significant relationship between increased plasma levels of ILs and the occurrence of pCAD. As a result, prospective cohort studies with serial assessments of serum ILs during follow up period, focusing on controlling classical risk factors of pCAD and increase in level of ILs, should be conducted.