Purinergic signaling plays an important role in inflammation and vascular integrity, but little is known about purinergic mechanisms during the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis in humans.
The objective of this study is to study markers of purinergic signaling in a cohort of patients with peripheral artery disease.
Plasma ATP and ADP levels and serum nucleoside triphosphate diphosphohydrolase-1 (NTPDase1/CD39) and ecto-5'-nucleotidase/CD73 activities were measured in 226 patients with stable peripheral artery disease admitted for nonurgent invasive imaging and treatment. The major findings were that ATP, ADP, and CD73 values were higher in atherosclerotic patients than in controls without clinically evident peripheral artery disease (P