Abstract
High levels of fetuin-A has been linked to cardiovascular disease, possibly via modulating
low-grade systemic inflammation. We performed a subanalysis from the PIOSTAT study
to investigate a possible link between fetuin-A and the inflammatory biomarker hs-CRP.
66 nondiabetic individuals at cardiovascular risk were randomized to either pioglitazone,
simvastatin, or the combination of both, and followed for 12 weeks. At study endpoint,
correlations between serum fetuin-A, hs-CRP, blood lipids, PAI-1, MMP-9, HOMA-IR,
and liver transaminases were investigated by Spearman rank correlation. Changes in
fetuin-A concentration did not correlate to changes in hs-CRP (r=0.19, p=0.16). A
positive correlation was found for change of HOMA-IR value (r=0.33, p=0.01) and for
the AST/ALT ratio (p<0.05). Our data suggest that the previously observed correlation
between elevated circulating fetuin-A and hs-CRP in epidemiological studies may not
reflect a causal relationship in nondiabetic patients on high cardiovascular risk.
