Recently, it has been demonstrated that tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) is associated with ischemic heart disease. TNF-α is known to be related to the progression of atheroma and reperfusion injury. TNF-α has been reported to increase in acute coronary syndrome. The purpose of this study is to investigate whether TNF-α increases in stable angina.

The coronary artery disease (CAD) group included 10 female stable angina patients with angiographically demonstrated coronary artery disease. The control group included 44 healthy female volunteers. The subjects with hypertension, non-insulin dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM) were excluded. We measured the waist and hip circumference by soft tape in both groups. We measured the plasma lipid profile, fasting plasma insulin, glucose and the TNF-α level in both groups.

Age was higher in CAD group significantly (57.3±9.0 vs. 37.5±7.7) There were no differences in body mass index (BMI) between both groups. Waist to hip ratio(WHR) was higher in CAD group (0.96±0.04 vs. 0.89±0.07). Total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol were not different in both groups. The HDL cholesterol decreased in CAD group significantly (48.9±11.1 mg/dl vs. 37.4±6.6 mg/dl, p=0.003). Triglyceride increased in CAD group. But there was borderline statistical significance (p=0.08). The fasting glucose increased in CAD group significantly (p<0.001). TNF-α increased significantly in CAD group (10.5±3.6 pg/mL vs. 1.7±1.4 pg/mL , p=0.002). In CAD group, there was significant correlation between TNF-α and LDL-cholesterol (r=0.80, p<0.05).

Serum TNF-α in CAD group significantly increased. TNF-α and LDL cholesterol in CAD group showed positive correlation significantly. But it had several limitations that were not matched age, waist hip ratio and postmenopausal effect between two groups.