Comparison of the stability of Glycoprotein Acetyls and high sensitivity C-reactive protein as markers of chronic inflammation

Abstract

AbstractBackgroundIt has been suggested that glycoprotein acetyls (GlycA) better reflects chronic inflammation than high sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP), but paediatric/life-course data are sparse.MethodUsing data from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children and UK Biobank, we compared short-(over weeks) and long-term (over years) correlations of GlycA and hsCRP, cross-sectional correlations between GlycA and hsCRP, and associations of pro-inflammatory risk factors with GlycA and hsCRP across the life-course.ResultsGlycA showed high short-term (weeks) stability at 15y (r=0.75; 95% CI=0.56, 0.94), 18y (r=0.74; 0.64, 0.85), 24y (r=0.74; 0.51, 0.98) and 48y (r=0.82 0.76, 0.86) and this was comparable to the short-term stability of hsCRP at 24y. GlycA stability was moderate over the long-term, for example between 15y and 18y r=0.52; 0.47, 0.56 and between 15y and 24y r=0.37; 0.31, 0.44. These were larger than equivalent correlations of hsCRP. GlycA and concurrently measured hsCRP were moderately correlated at all ages, for example at 15y (r=0.44; 0.40, 0.48) and at 18y (r=0.55; 0.51, 0.59).We found similar associations of known proinflammatory factors and inflammatory diseases with GlycA and hsCRP. For example, BMI was positively associated with GlycA (mean difference in GlycA per standard deviation change in BMI=0.08; 95% CI=0.07, 0.10) and hsCRP (0.10; 0.08, 0.11).ConclusionThis study showed that GlycA has greater long-term stability than hsCRP, however associations of proinflammatory factors with GlycA and hsCRP were broadly similar.Key messages- GlycA is a novel composite biomarker of inflammation which may have greater stability compared to commonly used biomarkers of inflammation such as hsCRP.- GlycA has comparable short-term stability, but greater long-term stability compared to hsCRP.- The associations between proinflammatory factors and CRP and GlycA are similar.