Elevated serum endothelin-1 is an independent predictor of coronary microvascular dysfunction in non-obstructive territories in patients with coronary artery disease

Endothelin-1 contributes to the constrictor response of the coronary arteries in patients with ischemia with normal coronary arteries. There is thus increasing evidence that endothelin-1 plays a role in coronary microvascular dysfunction (CMD). We investigated whether elevated endothelin-1 is associated with CMD in patients with coronary artery disease (CAD). We prospectively studied 49 consecutive CAD patients with 1- or 2-vessel disease (age 71 ± 10 years, 43 males). Myocardial blood flow (MBF) was measured by ¹⁵O-water PET/CT at rest and during stress, and the coronary flow reserve (CFR) was calculated by dividing the stress MBF by the rest MBF. A CFR of less than 2.0 in non-obstructive regions was defined as a marker of CMD. Eighteen out of 49 (37%) CAD patients had CMD. Endothelin-1 in patients with CMD was significantly higher than in those without CMD (2.27 ± 0.81 vs. 1.64 ± 0.48 pg/mL, P = 0.001). Accordingly, univariate ROC analysis showed that the continuous endothelin-1 levels significantly discriminated between the presence and absence of CMD (area under the curve = 0.746 [95%CI 0.592–0.899]). The dichotomous treatment of elevated endothelin-1 as 1.961 pg/mL or more yielded the optimal discriminatory capacity, with a sensitivity of 72.2% and a specificity of 71.0%. High endothelin-1 was still a significant predictor of CMD after adjusting for diabetes mellitus (odds ratio = 6.64 [1.75–25.22], P = 0.005). Endothelin-1 is associated with CMD in non-obstructive territories in patients with CAD, suggesting that endothelin-1 is a potential target for treating CMD in CAD patients.