FREIBURG, Germany, April 30 (UPI) -- German researchers identified 17 protein biomarkers linked to coronary artery disease, which may result in a urine test to screen for heart disease.
Clinicians now diagnose the disease using coronary angiogrography -- an X-ray examination of the blood vessels or heart chambers. It requires the insertion of a small tube into a blood vessel and threading it to the coronary arteries.
Dr. Constantin von zur Muehlen of the University Hospital Freiburg in Freiburg, Germany, said the biomarkers were found using proteome analysis -- protein patterns in body fluids such as blood or urine. The proteome pattern of 17 protein fragments the researchers identified as being linked with atherosclerotic disease were collagen fragments found on the surface of atherosclerotic plaques.
The researchers applied the proteome pattern in another group of patients with atherosclerotic disease of the coronary arteries. The investigators also compared the results of the urine proteome screenings from 67 patients to coronary angiography.
"The accuracy of the urine proteome pattern to identify coronary artery disease was 84 percent," Muehlen said.
The findings was presented at the annual conference of the American Heart Association's Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis and Vascular Biology conference in Washington.
