Myocardial Infarction and Intracerebral Hemorrhage in a Chinese Population: Relationship with Lipoproteins and Adipokines

BACKGROUND: Adipokines and inflammatory factors play an important role in disease progression. Two cardiovascular diseases which have important contributions to mortality and morbidity in China are intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) and myocardial infarction (MI). Acylation stimulating protein has been shown in North American populations to have strong associations with risk factors for MI. Complement C3 (C3) a component of the innate complement immune system is the precursor protein to ASP; C3 has been implicated in the pathogenesis of ICH. OBJECTIVE: In this case-control study we examined the association between BMI, lipoproteins adiponectin, C3 and ASP) in a Chinese population. METHODS AND RESULTS: Three groups of subjects were studied: ICH group (N = 41), MI group (N = 60) and a control group (N = 44). There was no difference in BMI for either ICH or MI compared to controls (Control: 22.3 ± 0.3 kg/m; ICH: 21.3 ± 0.4 vs MI: 22.5 ± 0.2, ICH and MI versus control pNS). The ICH group had lower LDL-C (Control: 3.21 ± 0.13 mmol/L; ICH: 2.54 ± 0.13; MI: 2.99 ± 0.13; ICH vs control p < 0.05), total cholesterol (Control: 5.06 ± 0.16 mmol/L; ICH: 4.40 ± 0.15 ; MI: 4.51 ± 0.14 ; ICH and MI vs control p < 0.05),, HDL-C (Control: 1.34 ± 0.05 mmol/L; ICH: 1.22 ± 0.06; MI: 0.95 ± 0.04; ICH and MI vs control p < 0.05), and C3 (Control: 2.58  0.21 g/L; ICH: 1.85  0.19; MI: 2.87  0.16; ICH vs control p < 0.05), and higher TG (Control: 1.10 ± 0.07 mmol/L; ICH: 1.77 ± 0.17; MI: 1.61 ± 0.10, ICH and MI vs control p < 0.05), compared to the controls. The MI group had lower total cholesterol and HDL-C and higher TG and ASP (Control: 33.70  2.07 nM; ICH: 35.10  2.33; MI: 41.50  1.81; MI vs control p < 0.05) compared to control. CONCLUSION: Chinese men and women who had an MI displayed elevated ASP unrelated to an increase in the precursor protein, C3. Chinese men and women with ICH had ASP levels similar to controls yet lower C3 suggesting that C3, and the regulation of C3 conversion to ASP may be important in ICH disease pathology.