Cardiovascular Disease - Coronary Stenosis

Narrowing of the arteries that supply blood to the heart, called coronary stenosis or coronary artery disease, affects approximately 15 million people in the United States. We believe the prevalence is similar in Europe. As the heart muscle becomes deprived of its blood supply, patients with coronary stenosis may experience chest pains, called angina pectoris. In more severe cases, the narrowed artery can become blocked by a blood clot, resulting in a heart attack. Unfortunately, patients are often unaware of coronary stenosis until it has progressed to the point where it causes acute symptoms and doctors can only measure the degree of arterial narrowing or blockage through an invasive procedure called angiography that involves inserting a catheter and injecting a dye directly into the arteries.

In an effort to develop an accurate but less invasive test for coronary stenosis, we studied plasma samples from 40 patients with advanced coronary artery disease and 40 matched patients without advanced coronary artery disease who were undergoing coronary angiography. In our biomarker discovery study, we identified a panel of 15 metabolites that was highly correlated with the presence of coronary stenosis as measured by angiography. We have filed a patent application on this discovery and are conducting additional studies to verify our findings as well as to potentially add additional biomarkers, such as serum proteins.