OBJECTIVETo assess the association between peripheral blood dendritic cells subtype distribution and plasma monocyte chemoattractant protein 1 (MCP-1) concentration in patients with coronary heart disease (CHD).

METHODSSixty consecutive CHD patients admitted in our department during the period from November, 2010 to December, 2011 were enrolled, including 10 with stable angina pectoris (SAP), 25 with unstable angina pectoris (UAP), and 25 with acute myocardial infarction (AMI), with 28 healthy volunteers as normal controls. All the subjects underwent routine tests and coronary angiography. The percentages of peripheral blood myeloid dendritic cells (mDCs) and plasma cell-like dendritic cells (pDCs) in peripheral blood mononuclear cells were detected by flow cytometry, and plasma MCP-1 levels were detected using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.

RESULTSThe percentage and absolute quantity of mDCs and pDCs were significantly lower in AMI and UAP groups than in the normal control and SAP groups (P<0.001). In the CHD patients, the plasma MCP-1 level was significantly higher than that in the normal control group (P<0.001) with an inverse correlation with the percentage of peripheral mDCs.

CONCLUSIONMCP-1 may promote the migration of mDCs into atherosclerotic plaques and mediate the local immune and inflammatory responses to aggravate plaque instability in CHD patients.