Elevated plasma levels of osteoglycin in cardiovascular patients: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Background: To evaluate the levels of osteoglycin (OGN) in patients with cardiovascular disease. Methods: A meta-analysis was conducted on retrospective studies that compared patients with and without cardiovascular disease. Data including the levels of OGN, low density lipoprotein (LDL), and high density lipoprotein (HDL) were analyzed and expressed as mean differences (MD) with a 95% confidence interval (CI). Results: This meta-analysis included 6 studies with a total of 1,443 patients. The results showed that the concentration of OGN in the blood of patients with cardiovascular disease was significantly elevated compared to that observed in control patients. There were no significant differences in LDL and HDL expression between cardiovascular patients and control patients. Sensitivity analysis and funnel plots showed that this investigation was robust and had low publication bias. Discussion: This report demonstrated that the blood concentration of OGN in patients with cardiovascular disease is significantly elevated compared to that in control patients. Furthermore, the elevated levels of OGN suggests that OGN may be a biomarker/or therapeutic target for patients with cardiovascular disease. Although the structure of OGN is simple, it is indispensable in many important life processes. It plays a protective role in the occurrence of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases through antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-apoptosis and increasing tolerance to hypoxia.