Coronary artery disease patient's first degree relatives may be at higher risk for atherosclerosis☆

Our aim was to investigate the relationship between the serologic status concerning Chlamydia pneumoniae (Cp), Helicobacter pylori (Hp), Cytomegalovirus (CMV) and high sensitive C-reactive protein (hsCRP) in coronary artery disease (CAD) patient's first degree relatives, which remain an unrevealed issue in literature. We studied 192 CAD patients (pts), 140 CAD-patient first degree relatives (CAD-R) and 192 controls with no evidence of obstructive CAD. Seropositivity for Cp IgG (71 vs 50, p=0.090), Hp IgA (98 vs 59, p=0.06), Hp IgG (77 vs 55, p=0.09), CMV IgG (62 vs 44, p=1.00), Ct IgG (7 vs 6, p=0.78) was not significantly higher in CAD-pts compared to CAD-R. However, seropositivity to Cp IgA (154 vs 96, p=0.020) and hsCRP (114 vs 65, p=0.014) were significantly higher in CAD-pts compared to CAD-R. Further differences between CAD-R and controls were significant for all seropositive groups and hsCRP. Therefore, this study adds to the strong evidence of association of Cp specific IgA and hsCRP with CAD and CAD-R is at higher risk for disease progression.