Biomarkers of Apoptosis and Cell Proliferation in Diagnosing the Progression of Atherosclerosis in Different Vascular Pools

INTRODUCTION: The development and progression of atherosclerosis in different vascular pools remain unclear. Many studies have considered apoptosis to play a key role in the development of atherosclerosis; apoptosis is a programmed cell death with characteristic morphological signs aimed at providing homeostasis in an organism in general and in the vascular wall in particular. However, all studies that have been devoted to markers of apoptosis were mostly experimental and were conducted on either animals or grown cultures of different cells. The study aimed to examine markers of apoptosis (р53, sFas, Вах, and Всl-2) and proliferation (platelet-derived growth factor [PDGF] BB) in the vessel wall in the area of an atherosclerotic lesion in a patient with multifocal atherosclerosis. The clinical case was of interest because it allowed the assessment of biomarkers in both the area of progression of atherosclerotic lesion on an operated limb and the carotid pool in the long-term postoperative period.

CONCLUSIONS: This case demonstrated that a patient with obliterating atherosclerosis of the lower limb arteries had an elevated level of pro-apoptotic markers р53 and Вах and PDGF ВВ as a marker of cell proliferation and migration, against the background reduced level of anti-apoptotic markers Всl-2 and sFas in comparison with their values in the normal arterial wall. The progression of atherosclerotic lesion in two vascular pools was associated with a further increase in the values of proapoptotic markers (р53 and Вах) and decrease in the values of Всl-2 and sFas compared with the initial samples. With this, the values of PDGF ВВ marker remained elevated relative to the initial level.