Prospects of the Application of Buccal Epithelium for Noninvasive Diagnosis of Coronary Heart Disease in People of Different Ages

Cardiovascular diseases caused by atherosclerosis are one of the most important social and economic problems in many countries of the world due to the high morbidity and mortality rate of the working population. An immunological theory of atherosclerosis and coronary heart disease (CHD) has been actively developed of late, and markers of inflammation characterizing immuno- and atherogenesis have been sought. The buccal epithelium (BE) can be used as biological material for in vivo molecular-cellular studies, allowing CHD diagnosis via inflammation markers. The purpose of the work was a comparative study of the expression of IL-1β, IL-6, IL-10, MCP-1, and GDF-15 in BE in patients of different ages with CHD and without cardiovascular disease. The BE material in healthy donors and patients with second-stage CHD was divided into groups according to the age classification of the WHO: the first group included middle-aged people (45–59 years), and the second included elderly people (60–74 years). Control material was obtained from people of middle and old age without cardiovascular disease. According to the immunocytochemical study, the area of IL-1β expression in BE is three times higher in middle-aged CHD patients and 4.4 times higher in elderly people as compared to healthy individuals of the same age group. The area of IL-6 expression in middle-aged and elderly CHD patients was 7.9 and 7.4 times higher, respectively, than in the control group. In middle-aged and elderly CHD patients, the IL-10 expression was 1.6 and 2.8 times higher, respectively, as compared to healthy donors of the same age group. The MCP-1 expression in the BE of middle-aged and elderly people with and without ischemic heart disease did not differ. GDF-15 expression is 6.8 and 6.6 times higher in middle-aged and elderly CHD patients than in healthy people of the same age. The findings showed that the expression of the cytokines IL-1β, IL-6, IL-10, and GDF-15 increase in the BE of patients with CHD in middle-aged and elderly people as compared with persons of the same age group without cardiovascular disease. Thus, the BE can serve as an informative material for noninvasive molecular diagnosis of CHD in people of different ages.