Review Article

Peripheral Levels of the Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor in Coronary Artery Disease: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Abstract

Background: Among its functions, brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) regulates endothelial and macrophage activation, possibly playing a role in atherosclerotic plaque pathophysiology. Given contradicting reports, this study sought to investigate whether blood levels of BDNF differed between patients with coronary heart disease (CHD) and controls.
Methods: We explored PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, and Cochrane Library for studies comparing BDNF blood levels in patients with CHD and controls. Random-effect meta-analysis was conducted to calculate the standardized mean differences (SMD) and 95% confidence intervals (CI). The Newcastle-Ottawa scale was used to evaluate the quality of included articles, and statistical analyses were conducted using R version 4.0.4.
Results: The final analysis comprised 12 investigations covering 1422 CHD cases and 929 controls with mean ages of 59.66±13.56 and 53.78±13.61 years, respectively. The initial analyses revealed a tendency toward low levels of BDNF in the CHD group compared with the control group (SMD= -0.41; 95% CI, -1.12 to 0.30; P=0.26). After the removal of outliers, the difference achieved statistical difference (SMD= -0.56; 95% CI, -0.93 to -0.19; P<0.01). Subgroup analysis demonstrated no significant difference between serum and plasma BDNF levels (P=0.54); however, subgroup analyses of studies investigating plasma BDNF showed that patients with CHD had significantly lower BDNF levels.
Conclusion: Serum and plasma BDNF concentrations were considerably lower in patients with CHD than in healthy controls. Further studies of higher quality are required on the potential role of BDNF as a biomarker of CHD pathophysiology and severity.

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IssueVol 18 No 4 (2023): J Teh Univ Heart Ctr QRcode
SectionReview Article(s)
DOI https://doi.org/10.18502/jthc.v18i4.14823
Keywords
Brain-derived neurotrophic factor Coronary disease Systematic review Meta-analysis

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1.
Shobeiri P, Behnoush AH, Khalaji A, Teixeira A, Rezaei N. Peripheral Levels of the Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor in Coronary Artery Disease: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. J Tehran Heart Cent. 2023;18(4):244-255.