The relationship of MicroRNA-21 and plaque stability in acute coronary syndrome

Acute coronary syndrome (ACS) leads to clinical symptoms such as chest pain, dyspnea, and arrhythmia. The occurrence of ACS is mainly related to the vulnerable plaques in the coronary arteries. MicroRNA-21 (miR-21) is widely expressed in cardiovascular disease and considered as a marker of myocardial infarction, but its role in vulnerable atherosclerotic plaque of ACS is poorly studied. The cases of ACS and control group were selected in 2 years. Our results revealed that miR-21 was highly positively correlated with the maximum lipid core area, the number of diseased vessels, the number of macrophages, the number of vulnerable plaques, and negatively correlated with the thickness of fiber caps. In the high expression group, the number of coronary artery lesions, the number of vulnerable plaques, the core area of lipid pools and the number of macrophages were significantly higher than those in the low expression group and the middle expression group. But the high expression group of the thickness of the fiber cap was significantly lower than that of the low expression group and the medium expression group. These studies show that miR-21 is an important factor leading to vulnerable plaque instability in ACS, and it can be a predictor of acute adverse events in coronary heart disease.