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<front>
<journal-meta>
<journal-id journal-id-type="publisher-id">Front. Cardiovasc. Med.</journal-id>
<journal-title>Frontiers in Cardiovascular Medicine</journal-title>
<abbrev-journal-title abbrev-type="pubmed">Front. Cardiovasc. Med.</abbrev-journal-title>
<issn pub-type="epub">2297-055X</issn>
<publisher>
<publisher-name>Frontiers Media S.A.</publisher-name>
</publisher>
</journal-meta>
<article-meta>
<article-id pub-id-type="doi">10.3389/fcvm.2021.736868</article-id>
<article-categories>
<subj-group subj-group-type="heading">
<subject>Cardiovascular Medicine</subject>
<subj-group>
<subject>Systematic Review</subject>
</subj-group>
</subj-group>
</article-categories>
<title-group>
<article-title>Utility of Elevated Pentraxin-3 Level as Inflammatory Marker for Predicting Adverse Outcomes in Patients With Acute Coronary Syndrome: A Meta-Analysis</article-title>
</title-group>
<contrib-group>
<contrib contrib-type="author">
<name><surname>Fan</surname> <given-names>Yu</given-names></name>
<uri xlink:href="http://loop.frontiersin.org/people/685389/overview"/>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author">
<name><surname>He</surname> <given-names>Rong</given-names></name>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author">
<name><surname>Man</surname> <given-names>Changfeng</given-names></name>
<uri xlink:href="http://loop.frontiersin.org/people/1397432/overview"/>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" corresp="yes">
<name><surname>Gong</surname> <given-names>Dandan</given-names></name>
<xref ref-type="corresp" rid="c001"><sup>&#x0002A;</sup></xref>
<uri xlink:href="http://loop.frontiersin.org/people/540857/overview"/>
</contrib>
</contrib-group>
<aff><institution>Institute of Molecular Biology and Translational Medicine, The Affiliated People&#x00027;s Hospital, Jiangsu University</institution>, <addr-line>Zhenjiang</addr-line>, <country>China</country></aff>
<author-notes>
<fn fn-type="edited-by"><p>Edited by: Melvin George, SRM Medical College Hospital and Research Centre, India</p></fn>
<fn fn-type="edited-by"><p>Reviewed by: Naufal Zagidullin, Bashkir State Medical University, Russia; Kenji Inoue, Juntendo University Nerima Hospital, Japan</p></fn>
<corresp id="c001">&#x0002A;Correspondence: Dandan Gong <email>gongdandanzhj&#x00040;126.com</email></corresp>
<fn fn-type="other" id="fn001"><p>This article was submitted to Coronary Artery Disease, a section of the journal Frontiers in Cardiovascular Medicine</p></fn></author-notes>
<pub-date pub-type="epub">
<day>20</day>
<month>01</month>
<year>2022</year>
</pub-date>
<pub-date pub-type="collection">
<year>2021</year>
</pub-date>
<volume>8</volume>
<elocation-id>736868</elocation-id>
<history>
<date date-type="received">
<day>06</day>
<month>07</month>
<year>2021</year>
</date>
<date date-type="accepted">
<day>20</day>
<month>12</month>
<year>2021</year>
</date>
</history>
<permissions>
<copyright-statement>Copyright &#x000A9; 2022 Fan, He, Man and Gong.</copyright-statement>
<copyright-year>2022</copyright-year>
<copyright-holder>Fan, He, Man and Gong</copyright-holder>
<license xlink:href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"><p>This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.</p></license>
</permissions>
<abstract>
<sec>
<title>Background</title>
<p>Vascular inflammation plays an important role in the pathogenesis and development of acute coronary syndrome (ACS). However, studies on the association between elevated pentraxin-3 level and adverse outcomes in patients with ACS have yielded controversial results. The purpose of this meta-analysis was to assess the value of elevated pentraxin-3 level as an inflammatory marker for predicting adverse outcomes in patients with ACS.</p>
</sec>
<sec>
<title>Methods</title>
<p>Two authors systematically searched the articles indexed in PubMed, Embase, CNKI, Wanfang, and VIP databases up to March 31, 2021. Studies reporting the association of elevated pentraxin-3 level at the acute phase with cardiovascular mortality, all-cause mortality, or cardiac events (cardiac death, non-fatal myocardial infarction, revascularization, or heart failure) in patients with ACS were included.</p>
</sec>
<sec>
<title>Results</title>
<p>A total of 8,775 ACS patients from 12 studies were identified and analyzed. When compared the lowest pentraxin-3 level, ACS patients with the highest pentraxin-3 level conferred an increased risk of cardiovascular mortality [risk ratio (RR) 2.10; 95% CI 1.44&#x02013;3.06], all-cause mortality (RR 1.99; 95% CI 1.46&#x02013;2.71), and cardiac events (RR 1.74; 95% CI 1.32&#x02013;2.29), even after adjustment for some important confounders. Subgroup analysis indicated that the association of elevated pentraxin-3 level with cardiac events appeared to be stronger in ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction patients (RR 2.72; 95% CI 1.69&#x02013;4.36) than in all patients with ACS (RR 1.59; 95% CI 1.10&#x02013;2.29).</p>
</sec>
<sec>
<title>Conclusions</title>
<p>Elevated pentraxin-3 level is possibly an independent predictor of adverse outcomes in patients with ACS. Assessment of pentraxin-3 level at the acute phase can provide important information for early risk stratification of ACS.</p>
</sec>
</abstract>
<kwd-group>
<kwd>pentraxin-3</kwd>
<kwd>acute coronary syndrome</kwd>
<kwd>mortality</kwd>
<kwd>cardiac events</kwd>
<kwd>meta-analysis</kwd>
</kwd-group>
<counts>
<fig-count count="4"/>
<table-count count="2"/>
<equation-count count="0"/>
<ref-count count="37"/>
<page-count count="8"/>
<word-count count="4605"/>
</counts>
</article-meta>
</front>
<body>
<sec sec-type="intro" id="s1">
<title>Introduction</title>
<p>Acute coronary syndrome (ACS) refers to a group of conditions, namely, ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI), non-ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (NSTEMI), and unstable angina. Despite advances in evidence-based therapies, ACS remains a major cause of morbidity and mortality around the world (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B1">1</xref>). However, risk prediction of morbidity and mortality is still challenging for patients with ACS.</p>
<p>The common cause of ACS is atherosclerotic plaque rupture or erosion with inflammation and subsequent coronary thrombosis (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B2">2</xref>). Increased local and systemic inflammation plays an important role in the development of ACS (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B3">3</xref>). Many inflammatory markers have been identified as strong and independent predictors of cardiovascular events in patients with ACS (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B4">4</xref>). Pentraxin-3 is mainly synthesized by macrophages, neutrophils, endothelial cells, and other cell types in response to acute inflammatory stimuli (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B5">5</xref>, <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B6">6</xref>). According to the primary structure of the subunit, the pentraxin family is divided into short pentraxins and long pentraxins (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B7">7</xref>, <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B8">8</xref>). Although from the same protein family as C-reactive protein (CRP), pentraxin-3 is predominantly expressed in atherosclerotic plaques (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B9">9</xref>). Therefore, pentraxin-3 may be a promising biomarker for inflammatory vascular disease. Apart from its diagnostic value (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B10">10</xref>, <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B11">11</xref>), several studies (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B12">12</xref>&#x02013;<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B19">19</xref>) have examined the role of pentraxin-3 level as a predictor of adverse outcomes in patients with ACS. However, the utility of pentraxin-3 as a prognostic biomarker remained conflicting in this population (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B20">20</xref>&#x02013;<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B22">22</xref>).</p>
<p>A previous meta-analysis has assessed the predictive value of elevated pentraxin-3 level in patients with coronary artery disease (CAD) (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B23">23</xref>). However, the results of this meta-analysis were limited by a small number of studies in the ACS subgroup. To clarify the pentraxin-3 as a prognostic biomarker, we undertook this meta-analysis to evaluate the value of elevated pentraxin-3 level for predicting adverse outcomes in ACS patients.</p>
</sec>
<sec sec-type="methods" id="s2">
<title>Methods</title>
<sec>
<title>Data Sources and Searches</title>
<p>This meta-analysis was performed in accordance with the checklists of the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses Statement (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B24">24</xref>). Two reviewers independently searched the articles indexed in PubMed, Embase, CNKI, Wanfang, and VIP databases up to March 31, 2021, using the following keywords in combination: &#x0201C;pentraxin-3&#x0201D; AND &#x0201C;acute coronary syndrome&#x0201D; OR &#x0201C;acute myocardial infarction&#x0201D; OR &#x0201C;unstable angina.&#x0201D; Reference lists of pertinent articles were manually reviewed to identify additional eligible studies.</p>
</sec>
<sec>
<title>Study Selection</title>
<p>The inclusion criteria were as follows: (1) participants with clinical diagnosis of ACS (including STEMI, NSTEMI, and unstable angina); (2) cohort studies and <italic>post hoc</italic> analysis of clinical trials; (3) acute phase pentraxin-3 level as a predictor; (4) cardiovascular mortality, all-cause mortality, or cardiac events (cardiac death, recurrent myocardial infarction, revascularization, unstable angina pectoris, or heart failure) as an outcome of interests; and (5) reported multivariate-adjusted risk ratio (RR), hazard ratio (HR) or odds ratio (OR) and corresponding 95% CI of adverse outcomes for the highest pentraxin-3 group vs. the lowest pentraxin-3 group. The non-inclusion criteria included: (1) participants were not restricted in patients with ACS (enrolling all types of CAD); (2) risk estimate reported by univariate analysis; (3) analyzed the predictive value of pentraxin-3 level by continuous data; and (4) reviews or conference abstract.</p>
</sec>
<sec>
<title>Data Extraction and Quality Assessment</title>
<p>Two reviewers independently scanned the titles or abstracts, retrieved the potentially eligible full-text articles, and evaluated the methodological quality. Any disagreements were resolved by discussion with a third reviewer. The extracted data included: a surname of the first author, time of publication, the origin of patients, study design, type or subtype of patients, sample sizes, age, gender distribution, the definition of cardiac events, cutoff value of the elevated pentraxin-3 level, length of follow-up, maximally adjusted risk summary, adjustment for variables, and items of methodological quality. The study quality was evaluated using a 9-point Newcastle&#x02013;Ottawa Scale (NOS) (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B25">25</xref>). Studies with a score of 7 points or over were considered as high-quality.</p>
</sec>
<sec>
<title>Data Synthesis and Analysis</title>
<p>All data were analyzed using STATA 12.0 (StataCorp, TX, USA). To facilitate meta-analysis, the OR and HR reported in the original studies were directly considered as approximately RR. Heterogeneity between studies was checked using the I<sup>2</sup> statistic and Cochran&#x00027;s Q test. A random-effect model was utilized if there was evidence of significant heterogeneity (I<sup>2</sup> statistic &#x0003E; 50% and/or <italic>P</italic> value &#x0003C; 0.1 of Cochran&#x00027;s Q test); otherwise, we used a fixed-effect model for analysis. Subgroup analyses were performed according to study design, ACS subtypes, sample sizes, and length of follow-up. In addition, we conducted a leave-out-one study sensitivity analysis to examine the robustness of the original pooling risk estimate and sources of the heterogeneity. Publication bias was investigated by visual inspection of funnel plot if more than 10 studies were included in the analysis.</p>
</sec>
</sec>
<sec sec-type="results" id="s3">
<title>Results</title>
<sec>
<title>Search Results and Study Characteristics</title>
<p><xref ref-type="fig" rid="F1">Figure 1</xref> summarizes the process of study selection. A total of 786 potentially relevant records were identified by searching the electronic medical databases. After removing duplicated records and reviewing the titles and abstracts, 40 articles were retrieved for full-text evaluation. Of which, 28 articles were further removed after applying the predefined inclusion criteria. Thus, 12 studies (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B12">12</xref>&#x02013;<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B17">17</xref>, <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B21">21</xref>, <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B22">22</xref>, <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B26">26</xref>&#x02013;<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B29">29</xref>) were ultimately included in this meta-analysis.</p>
<fig id="F1" position="float">
<label>Figure 1</label>
<caption><p>Flow diagram showing study selection process.</p></caption>
<graphic mimetype="image" mime-subtype="tiff" xlink:href="fcvm-08-736868-g0001.tif"/>
</fig>
<p><xref ref-type="table" rid="T1">Table 1</xref> describes the baseline characteristics of the included studies. Two studies (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B13">13</xref>, <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B22">22</xref>) adopted the retrospective design and others were prospective studies. A total of 8,775 patients with ACS were identified, with sample sizes ranging from 79 to 5,154. The percentage of male gender ranged from 41.7 to 85.7%. Follow-up duration varied from 30 days to 84 months. According to the NOS criteria, the included studies were grouped as moderate to high quality (6&#x02013;8 NOS points).</p>
<table-wrap position="float" id="T1">
<label>Table 1</label>
<caption><p>Characteristics of the included studies.</p></caption>
<table frame="hsides" rules="groups">
<thead><tr>
<th valign="top" align="left"><bold>References</bold></th>
<th valign="top" align="left"><bold>Region</bold></th>
<th valign="top" align="left"><bold>Study design</bold></th>
<th valign="top" align="left"><bold>Patients</bold></th>
<th valign="top" align="center"><bold>Sample size (%men)</bold></th>
<th valign="top" align="center"><bold>Age (years)</bold></th>
<th valign="top" align="left"><bold>Definition of cardiac events</bold></th>
<th valign="top" align="left"><bold>PTX 3 cutoff value (ng/ml)</bold></th>
<th valign="top" align="left"><bold>Outcomes HR/RR (95% CI)</bold></th>
<th valign="top" align="center"><bold>Follow-up (months)</bold></th>
<th valign="top" align="left"><bold>Maximal adjusted variables</bold></th>
<th valign="top" align="center"><bold>Total NOS</bold></th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td valign="top" align="left">Latini et al. (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B12">12</xref>)</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">Italy</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">P</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">AMI</td>
<td valign="top" align="center">724 (69.1)</td>
<td valign="top" align="center">Not provided</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">&#x02013;</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">&#x0003E;10.7 vs. &#x02264; 5.5</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">Total death<break/> 3.55 (1.43&#x02013;8.83)</td>
<td valign="top" align="center">3.0</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">Age, sex, smoking, hypertension, DM, Killip class, heart rate, SBP, anterior MI, creatine kinase</td>
<td valign="top" align="center">7</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" align="left">Guo et al. (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B13">13</xref>)</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">China</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">R</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">NSTEMI</td>
<td valign="top" align="center">525 (63.5)</td>
<td valign="top" align="center">57.7 &#x000B1; 9.3</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">Recurrent MI, unstable angina pectoris, TVR</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">&#x02265;3.0 vs. &#x0003C;3.0</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">Cardiac events<break/> 1.36 (1.09&#x02013;1.68);<break/> CV death<break/> 1.59 (1.18&#x02013;2.15)</td>
<td valign="top" align="center">1.0</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">Age, gender, BMI, DM, SBP, DBP, LVEF hypertension, hyperlipidemia, smoker, heart rate, hsCRP, cTnT, NT-proBNP</td>
<td valign="top" align="center">7</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" align="left">Akgul et al. (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B14">14</xref>)</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">Turkey</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">P</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">STEMI</td>
<td valign="top" align="center">499 (79.6)</td>
<td valign="top" align="center">55.5 &#x000B1; 12.3</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">&#x02013;</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">&#x02265;3.2 vs. &#x0003C;3.2</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">Total death<break/> 2.3 (1.2&#x02013;4.9)</td>
<td valign="top" align="center">24</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">Age, gender, DM, hypertension, Killip class, unsuccessful procedure, LVEF, anemia, creatinine, peak troponin</td>
<td valign="top" align="center">8</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" align="left">Mjelva et al. (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B21">21</xref>)</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">Norway</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">P</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">Suspected ACS</td>
<td valign="top" align="center">871 (61.3)</td>
<td valign="top" align="center">69.5 &#x000B1; 14.4</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">Cardiac death and recurrent non-fatal cardiac disease</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">&#x0003E;9.5 vs. &#x0003C;3.5</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">Total death<break/> 1.62 (1.11&#x02013;2.37);<break/> Cardiac events<break/> 1.39 (0.83&#x02013;2.33)<xref ref-type="table-fn" rid="TN1"><sup>&#x00023;</sup></xref></td>
<td valign="top" align="center">84</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">Age, sex, smoking, hypertension, eGFR, DM, NYHA, CAD, hypercholesterolemia, HF, cTnT, BNP, hsCRP</td>
<td valign="top" align="center">8</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" align="left">Altay et al. (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B15">15</xref>)</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">Turkey</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">P</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">AMI</td>
<td valign="top" align="center">140 (72.9)</td>
<td valign="top" align="center">59.7 &#x000B1; 12.3</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">&#x02013;</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">&#x02265;4.27 vs. &#x02264; 1.63</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">CV death<break/> 2.18 (1.43&#x02013;3.32)</td>
<td valign="top" align="center">60</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">LVEF, hsCRP, NT-proBNP Global Registry of Acute Coronary Events score, TIMI score</td>
<td valign="top" align="center">8</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" align="left">Qiu et al. (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B16">16</xref>)</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">China</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">P</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">STEMI</td>
<td valign="top" align="center">84 (75)</td>
<td valign="top" align="center">55.8 &#x000B1; 13.3</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">Non-fatal MI or HF, cardiac death</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">&#x02265;6.90 vs. &#x0003C;2.53</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">Cardiac events<break/> 3.64 (1.34&#x02013;7.59)</td>
<td valign="top" align="center">3.0</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">Age, gender, cTnI, NT-proBNP</td>
<td valign="top" align="center">6</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" align="left">Chen (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B17">17</xref>)</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">China</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">P</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">ACS</td>
<td valign="top" align="center">120 (41.7)</td>
<td valign="top" align="center">58.9 &#x000B1; 12.5</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">Arrhythmia MI, HF, UAP,</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">High vs. low</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">Cardiac events<break/> 3.12 (1.10&#x02013;8.84)</td>
<td valign="top" align="center">6.0</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">Age, smoking, hypertension, DM, hsCRP, chemokine 16</td>
<td valign="top" align="center">7</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" align="left">Ljuca et al. (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B26">26</xref>)</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">Tuzla</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">P</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">STEMI</td>
<td valign="top" align="center">97 (73.2)</td>
<td valign="top" align="center">67.1 &#x000B1; 7.6</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">Cardiac death, non-fatal MI, TVR</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">&#x02265;5.04 vs. &#x0003C;5.04</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">Cardiac events<break/> 2.40 (1.39&#x02013;4.29)</td>
<td valign="top" align="center">24</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">Age, hypertension, hyperlipidemia, LVEF, DM, smoking, cTnI, hsCRP, interleukin-6, interleukin-10, Killip class</td>
<td valign="top" align="center">7</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" align="left">Dharma et al. (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B28">28</xref>)</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">Indonesia</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">P</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">STEMI</td>
<td valign="top" align="center">335 (85.7)</td>
<td valign="top" align="center">47&#x02013;63</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">Cardiac death, non-fatal MI, TVR</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">&#x0003E;4.38 vs. &#x0003C;4.38</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">Total death<break/> 11.8 (1.52&#x02013;92.3)</td>
<td valign="top" align="center">1.0</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">Age, sex, DM, hypertension, anterior MI, leukocyte, creatinine, random blood glucose</td>
<td valign="top" align="center">8</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" align="left">Zagidullin et al. (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B29">29</xref>)</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">Russia</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">P</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">STEMI</td>
<td valign="top" align="center">147 (80.3)</td>
<td valign="top" align="center">60.9 &#x000B1; 12.1</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">&#x02013;</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">&#x0003E;169 vs. &#x02264; 169</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">CV death<break/> 5.26 (2.23&#x02013;12.4)</td>
<td valign="top" align="center">24</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">Age, gender, cTnI, LVEF</td>
<td valign="top" align="center">7</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" align="left">Kontny et al. (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B22">22</xref>)</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">Norway</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">R</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">ACS</td>
<td valign="top" align="center">5,154 (68.9)</td>
<td valign="top" align="center">52&#x02013;73</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">CV death, spontaneous MI</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">&#x0003E;3.0 vs. &#x0003C;1.2</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">Cardiac events<break/> 1.30 (0.92&#x02013;1.83)<break/> CV death<break/> 1.80 (1.03&#x02013;3.15)</td>
<td valign="top" align="center">12</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">Age, gender, BMI, DM, CKD, hypertension, smoking, ACS type, history of HF, MI, PCI, CABG, stroke or PAD, leukocytes, hsCRP, interleukin-6, cystatin C</td>
<td valign="top" align="center">8</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" align="left">Jiang (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B27">27</xref>)</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">China</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">P</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">ACS</td>
<td valign="top" align="center">79 (51.9)</td>
<td valign="top" align="center">63.7 &#x000B1; 8.27</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">Cardiac death and ACS readmission</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">&#x0003E;0.89 vs. &#x02264; 0.89</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">Cardiac events<break/> 3.02 (1.03&#x02013;8.80)</td>
<td valign="top" align="center">3.0</td>
<td valign="top" align="left">Hypertension, DM, lipids, cTnI, hsCRP, C1q/tumor necrosis factor-related protein 9</td>
<td valign="top" align="center">7</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<table-wrap-foot>
<p><italic>PTX 3, pentraxin 3; HR, hazard ratio; RR, risk ratio; P, prospective; R, retrospective; CV, cardiovascular; MI, myocardial infarction; AMI, acute MI; ACS, acute coronary syndrome; STEMI, ST segment elevated myocardial infarction; NSTEMI, non-STEMI; BMI, body mass index; DM, diabetes mellitus; SBP, systolic blood pressure; CKD, chronic kidney disease; hsCRP, high sensitivity CRP; TIMI, Thrombolysis in Myocardial Infarction; cTn, cardiac troponin; NT-proBNP, N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide; LVEF, left ventricular ejection fraction; eGFR, estimated glomerular filtration rate; PCI, percutaneous coronary intervention; CABG, coronary artery by-pass grafting; PAD, peripheral artery disease; TVR, target vessel revascularization; CAD, coronary artery disease; HF, heart failure; NOS, Newcastle-Ottawa Scale</italic>.</p>
<fn id="TN1"><label>&#x00023;</label><p><italic>Data from Mjelva et al. (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B21">21</xref>)</italic>.</p></fn>
</table-wrap-foot>
</table-wrap>
</sec>
<sec>
<title>Cardiac Events</title>
<p>Seven studies (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B13">13</xref>, <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B16">16</xref>, <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B17">17</xref>, <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B21">21</xref>, <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B22">22</xref>, <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B26">26</xref>, <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B27">27</xref>) reported the association of pentraxin-3 level with cardiac events. A random-effect meta-analysis indicated that elevated pentraxin-3 level was associated with an increased risk of cardiac events (RR 1.74; 95% CI 1.32&#x02013;2.29; I<sup>2</sup> = 48.9%; <italic>P</italic> = 0.068; <xref ref-type="fig" rid="F2">Figure 2</xref>). Sensitivity analysis did not significantly alter the original predictive significance (data not shown). Subgroup analysis (<xref ref-type="table" rid="T2">Table 2</xref>) showed that the value of elevated pentraxin-3 in predicting cardiac events was stronger in STEMI patients (RR 2.72) than all patients with ACS (RR 1.59).</p>
<fig id="F2" position="float">
<label>Figure 2</label>
<caption><p>Forest plots showing the pooled multivariate-adjusted RR and 95% CI of cardiac events for the highest pentraxin-3 level vs. the lowest pentraxin-3 level.</p></caption>
<graphic mimetype="image" mime-subtype="tiff" xlink:href="fcvm-08-736868-g0002.tif"/>
</fig>
<table-wrap position="float" id="T2">
<label>Table 2</label>
<caption><p>Results of subgroup analyses on cardiac events.</p></caption>
<table frame="hsides" rules="groups">
<thead><tr>
<th valign="top" align="left"><bold>Subgroup</bold></th>
<th valign="top" align="center"><bold>Number of studies</bold></th>
<th valign="top" align="center"><bold>Pooled risk ratios</bold></th>
<th valign="top" align="center"><bold>95% confidence intervals</bold></th>
<th valign="top" align="center"><bold>Heterogeneity between studies</bold></th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td valign="top" align="left"><bold>Study design</bold></td>
<td/>
<td/>
<td/>
<td/>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" align="left">Prospective</td>
<td valign="top" align="center">5</td>
<td valign="top" align="center">2.26</td>
<td valign="top" align="center">1.55&#x02013;3.29</td>
<td valign="top" align="center"><italic>P</italic> = 0.269; <italic>I</italic><sup>2</sup> = 22.8%</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" align="left">Retrospective</td>
<td valign="top" align="center">2</td>
<td valign="top" align="center">1.34</td>
<td valign="top" align="center">1.12&#x02013;1.61</td>
<td valign="top" align="center"><italic>P</italic> = 0.828; <italic>I</italic><sup>2</sup> = 0.0%</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" align="left"><bold>Subtypes of ACS</bold></td>
<td/>
<td/>
<td/>
<td/>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" align="left">All ACS</td>
<td valign="top" align="center">4</td>
<td valign="top" align="center">1.59</td>
<td valign="top" align="center">1.10&#x02013;2.29</td>
<td valign="top" align="center"><italic>P</italic> = 0.234; <italic>I</italic><sup>2</sup> = 29.7%</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" align="left">STEMI</td>
<td valign="top" align="center">2</td>
<td valign="top" align="center">2.72</td>
<td valign="top" align="center">1.69&#x02013;4.36</td>
<td valign="top" align="center"><italic>P</italic> = 0.430; <italic>I</italic><sup>2</sup> = 0.0%</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" align="left"><bold>Sample sizes</bold></td>
<td/>
<td/>
<td/>
<td/>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" align="left">&#x02265;500</td>
<td valign="top" align="center">3</td>
<td valign="top" align="center">1.35</td>
<td valign="top" align="center">1.13&#x02013;1.60</td>
<td valign="top" align="center"><italic>P</italic> = 0.969; <italic>I</italic><sup>2</sup> = 0.0%</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" align="left">&#x0003C;500</td>
<td valign="top" align="center">4</td>
<td valign="top" align="center">2.81</td>
<td valign="top" align="center">1.89&#x02013;4.19</td>
<td valign="top" align="center"><italic>P</italic> = 0.873; <italic>I</italic><sup>2</sup> = 0.0%</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" align="left"><bold>Length of follow-up</bold></td>
<td/>
<td/>
<td/>
<td/>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" align="left">&#x0003E;6 months</td>
<td valign="top" align="center">3</td>
<td valign="top" align="center">1.55</td>
<td valign="top" align="center">1.09&#x02013;2.21</td>
<td valign="top" align="center"><italic>P</italic> = 0.181; <italic>I</italic><sup>2</sup> = 41.5%</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" align="left">&#x02264; 6 months</td>
<td valign="top" align="center">4</td>
<td valign="top" align="center">2.32</td>
<td valign="top" align="center">1.24&#x02013;4.31</td>
<td valign="top" align="center"><italic>P</italic> = 0.040; <italic>I</italic><sup>2</sup> = 63.9%</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<table-wrap-foot>
<p><italic>ACS, acute coronary syndrome; STEMI, ST segment elevation myocardial infarction</italic>.</p>
</table-wrap-foot>
</table-wrap>
</sec>
<sec>
<title>All-Cause Mortality</title>
<p>Four studies (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B12">12</xref>, <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B14">14</xref>, <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B21">21</xref>, <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B28">28</xref>) reported the association between pentraxin-3 level and all-cause mortality. A fixed-effect meta-analysis showed that elevated pentraxin-3 level was associated with higher risk of all-cause mortality (RR 1.99; 95% CI 1.46&#x02013;2.71; I<sup>2</sup> = 47.7%; <italic>P</italic> = 0.125; <xref ref-type="fig" rid="F3">Figure 3</xref>). Sensitivity analysis did not markedly change the originally predictive significance (data not shown).</p>
<fig id="F3" position="float">
<label>Figure 3</label>
<caption><p>Forest plots showing the pooled multivariate-adjusted RR and 95% CI of all-cause mortality for the highest pentraxin-3 level vs. the lowest pentraxin-3 level.</p></caption>
<graphic mimetype="image" mime-subtype="tiff" xlink:href="fcvm-08-736868-g0003.tif"/>
</fig>
</sec>
<sec>
<title>Cardiovascular Mortality</title>
<p>Four studies (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B13">13</xref>, <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B15">15</xref>, <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B22">22</xref>, <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B29">29</xref>) reported the association of pentraxin-3 level with cardiovascular mortality. A random-effect meta-analysis showed that elevated pentraxin-3 level was associated with a higher risk of cardiovascular mortality (RR 2.10; 95% CI 1.44&#x02013;3.06; I<sup>2</sup> = 58.4%; <italic>P</italic> = 0.065; <xref ref-type="fig" rid="F4">Figure 4</xref>). Sensitivity analysis did not significantly change the original predictive significance (data not shown).</p>
<fig id="F4" position="float">
<label>Figure 4</label>
<caption><p>Forest plots showing the pooled multivariate-adjusted RR and 95% CI of cardiovascular mortality for the highest pentraxin-3 level vs. the lowest pentraxin-3 level.</p></caption>
<graphic mimetype="image" mime-subtype="tiff" xlink:href="fcvm-08-736868-g0004.tif"/>
</fig>
</sec>
<sec>
<title>Publication Bias</title>
<p>Because of less than recommended an arbitrary number of 10 studies, we did not construct the funnel plots to examine the likelihood of publication bias (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B30">30</xref>).</p>
</sec>
</sec>
<sec sec-type="discussion" id="s4">
<title>Discussion</title>
<p>The main finding of the current meta-analysis indicates that elevated blood level of pentraxin-3 is significantly associated with a higher risk of cardiac events, cardiovascular mortality, and all-cause mortality in patients with ACS, even after adjustment for confounders. ACS patients with the highest pentraxin-3 level conferred &#x0007E;74%, 1.99-fold, and 2.1-fold higher risk of cardiac events, all-cause mortality, and cardiovascular mortality, respectively.</p>
<p>In addition to categorical data analysis of pentraxin-3 level, each ten-fold increase in pentraxin-3 level was associated with a 3.86-fold higher risk of cardiac events in patients with NSTEMI and unstable angina (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B19">19</xref>). Moreover, per 50% increase in acute phase pentraxin-3 level was associated with a 7% higher risk of cardiovascular mortality after adjustment for confounders in patients with ACS (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B11">11</xref>). These findings further supported the predictive role of elevated pentraxin-3 level in patients with ACS. However, the controversial result remained using continuous variable analysis of pentraxin-3 in patients with non-ST-elevation ACS (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B20">20</xref>).</p>
<p>Acute coronary syndrome (ACS) includes heterogeneous patient populations. Our subgroup analysis showed that the value of elevated pentraxin-3 in predicting cardiac events appeared to be stronger in STEMI patients compared with all ACS patients. This result may be correlated with a higher median pentraxin-3 level in STEMI than in NSTEMI patients (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B31">31</xref>). Pentraxin-3 level was significantly correlated with infarct size (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B32">32</xref>) and thrombus burden (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B28">28</xref>). When we grouped the studies by the length of follow-up, the value of pentraxin-3 in predicting cardiac events was evident in studies with short-term follow-up than those with relatively long-term follow-up. This finding suggested that the pentraxin-3 level may provide important information for the early risk stratification of ACS patients. Notably, the results of subgroup analysis should be interpreted with caution due to the limited number of studies analyzed.</p>
<p>Pentraxin-3 is an early biomarker of local inflammation in the vasculature (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B33">33</xref>). Blood pentraxin-3 level positively correlated with cardiac troponin I, creatine kinase-MB, and high-sensitivity CRP (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B15">15</xref>, <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B27">27</xref>). Elevated pentraxin-3 level may reflect an acute inflammatory response induced by myocardial injury. Moreover, the pentraxin-3 level was correlated with plaque vulnerability (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B34">34</xref>). Both the degree of inflammation and plaque vulnerability contribute to the adverse clinical events. Pentraxin-3 and CRP may represent different inflammatory processes of atherosclerosis. The increased blood level of the pentraxin protein family member CRP was also associated with a higher long-term risk of recurrent cardiovascular events and mortality in patients with ACS (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B35">35</xref>). An interesting issue is whether the predictive value of pentraxin-3 is superior to CRP. Considering pentraxin-3 level peaked earlier than CRP (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B22">22</xref>, <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B36">36</xref>), therefore it may be a better prognostic marker than CRP in acute phase ACS (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B19">19</xref>, <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B21">21</xref>, <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B26">26</xref>). Also, the pentraxin-3 level was more closely associated with the angiographic complexity and severity of coronary disease compared with CRP (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B37">37</xref>).</p>
<p>This meta-analysis has potential implications for clinical practice. Detection of blood pentraxin-3 level has the potential to identify high-risk ACS patients. ACS patients with elevated pentraxin-3 level should be received more closely monitor and active evidence-based therapies. Correspondingly, ACS patients with a high level of pentraxin-3 may potentially benefit from anti-inflammatory therapies. However, future well-designed clinical trials are necessary to support this hypothesis.</p>
<p>There were several potential limitations in our meta-analysis. First, a single measurement of the blood level of pentraxin-3 rather than a dynamic monitor may have resulted in selection bias. Second, different cut-off points of pentraxin-3 elevation used across studies prevent clinicians to identify those in need of closely monitor and active treatment. Future studies should further determine the optimal cut-off value for pentraxin-3 elevation. Third, we failed to analyze the predictive role of pentraxin-3 by continuous data because of the small number of such studies. Fourth, the majority of study outcomes were limited by considerable and at least moderate heterogeneity (&#x0007E;50% or more), which may be partly interpreted by the different cut-off points of pentraxin-3 elevation, the definition of outcomes, subtypes of ACS, or length of follow-up. Finally, we pooled the studies reporting different risk estimates (RR, OR, and HR) and approximated OR and HR to RR. This approach may have led to a slight overestimation of actual predictive value.</p>
</sec>
<sec sec-type="conclusions" id="s5">
<title>Conclusions</title>
<p>This meta-analysis suggests that the blood level of pentraxin-3 as an inflammatory marker possibly independently predicts cardiac events, cardiovascular mortality, and all-cause mortality in patients with ACS. Detection of acute-phase pentraxin-3 level can provide important information for early risk stratification of ACS.</p>
</sec>
<sec sec-type="data-availability" id="s6">
<title>Data Availability Statement</title>
<p>The original contributions presented in the study are included in the article/supplementary material, further inquiries can be directed to the corresponding author.</p>
</sec>
<sec id="s7">
<title>Author Contributions</title>
<p>DG: study conception, design, and revised the article critically for important intellectual content. YF and RH: acquisition of data, analysis, and interpretation of data. YF and CM: statistical analysis. YF drafted the article. All authors read the final approval of the version to be published.</p>
</sec>
<sec sec-type="funding-information" id="s8">
<title>Funding</title>
<p>This work is supported by (1) the Jiangsu Innovative Team Leading Talent Fund (CXTDC2016006, QNRC2016446); (2) the Zhenjiang Key Research and Development Fund (SH2021038), and (3) the Suqian Science and Technology Support Project Fund (K201907).</p>
</sec>
<sec sec-type="COI-statement" id="conf1">
<title>Conflict of Interest</title>
<p>The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.</p>
</sec>
<sec sec-type="disclaimer" id="s9">
<title>Publisher&#x00027;s Note</title>
<p>All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article, or claim that may be made by its manufacturer, is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.</p>
</sec>
</body>
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