Journal of the American Heart Association: Cardiovascular and Cerebrovascular Disease (Nov 2022)

Circulating Soluble CD163, Associations With Cardiovascular Outcomes and Mortality, and Identification of Genetic Variants in Older Individuals: The Cardiovascular Health Study

  • Peter Durda,
  • Laura M. Raffield,
  • Ethan M. Lange,
  • Nels C. Olson,
  • Nancy Swords Jenny,
  • Mary Cushman,
  • Pia Deichgraeber,
  • Niels Grarup,
  • Anna Jonsson,
  • Torben Hansen,
  • Josyf C. Mychaleckyj,
  • Bruce M. Psaty,
  • Alex P. Reiner,
  • Russell P. Tracy,
  • Leslie A. Lange

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1161/JAHA.121.024374
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 11, no. 21

Abstract

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Background Monocytes/macrophages participate in cardiovascular disease. CD163 (cluster of differentiation 163) is a monocyte/macrophage receptor, and the shed sCD163 (soluble CD163) reflects monocyte/macrophage activation. We examined the association of sCD163 with incident cardiovascular disease events and performed a genome‐wide association study to identify sCD163‐associated variants. Methods and Results We measured plasma sCD163 in 5214 adults (aged ≥65 years, 58.7% women, 16.2% Black) of the CHS (Cardiovascular Health Study). We used Cox regression models (associations of sCD163 with incident events and mortality); median follow‐up was 26 years. Genome‐wide association study analyses were stratified on race. Adjusted for age, sex, and race and ethnicity, sCD163 levels were associated with all‐cause mortality (hazard ratio [HR], 1.08 [95% CI, 1.04–1.12] per SD increase), cardiovascular disease mortality (HR, 1.15 [95% CI, 1.09–1.21]), incident coronary heart disease (HR, 1.10 [95% CI, 1.04–1.16]), and incident heart failure (HR, 1.18 [95% CI, 1.12–1.25]). When further adjusted (eg, cardiovascular disease risk factors), only incident coronary heart disease lost significance. In European American individuals, genome‐wide association studies identified 38 variants on chromosome 2 near MGAT5 (top result rs62165726, P=3.3×10−18),19 variants near chromosome 17 gene ASGR1 (rs55714927, P=1.5×10−14), and 18 variants near chromosome 11 gene ST3GAL4. These regions replicated in the European ancestry ADDITION‐PRO cohort, a longitudinal cohort study nested in the Danish arm of the Anglo‐Danish‐Dutch study of Intensive Treatment Intensive Treatment In peOple with screeNdetcted Diabetes in Primary Care. In Black individuals, we identified 9 variants on chromosome 6 (rs3129781 P=7.1×10−9) in the HLA region, and 3 variants (rs115391969 P=4.3×10−8) near the chromosome 16 gene MYLK3. Conclusions Monocyte function, as measured by sCD163, may be predictive of overall and cardiovascular‐specific mortality and incident heart failure.

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