Objective—Vascular adhesion protein-1 is an endothelial enzyme that regulates leukocyte traffic and contributes to vascular damage in animal models. The relations of soluble vascular adhesion protein-1 (sVAP-1) with cardiovascular risk factors and markers of subclinical atherosclerosis at a population level have not been studied.
Methods and Results—We developed a new high-throughput method and measured sVAP-1 activities in serum of 2183 persons (The Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study). In women, sVAP-1 activity correlated indirectly with body mass index (r0.15, P0.0001), triglycerides (r0.13, P0.0001), C-reactive protein (r0.23; P0.0001), and brachial artery flow-mediated vasodilatation (r0.076, P0.0089) and directly with carotid plaques (r0.066, P0.023). None of these correlations was significant in men. In women, all these univariate correlations remained significant after adjustment for body mass index, and direct correlations with LDL-cholesterol (r0.094, P0.0014) and carotid intima-media thickness (r0.075, P0.010) became evident. In men, sVAP-1 activity associated directly with glucose (r0.074, P0.020), intima-media thickness (r0.072, P0.025), metabolic syndrome (P0.016), and type 1 (P0.0002) and type 2 (P0.0001) diabetes. In multivariable analyses, sVAP-1 activity was an independent determinant of carotid intima-media thickness (P0.0072) and plaques [odds ratio 1.71 (95% confidence interval 1.07–2.72, P0.025] in women, but not in men.
Conclusion—sVAP-1 activity correlates directly with intima-media thickness and carotid plaques in general population and may play a role in the pathophysiology of preclinical atherosclerosis.