Complement activation assessed by the plasma terminal complement complex and future risk of venous thromboembolism

Abstract

<i>Background</i>- It remains uncertain whether activation of the complement system, assessed by the soluble terminal C5b‐9 complement complex (plasma TCC), is associated with future risk of incident venous thromboembolism (VTE).<p>

<p><i>Objectives</i>- To investigate the association between plasma levels of TCC and future risk of incident VTE in a nested case‐control study, and to explore genetic variants associated with TCC using protein quantitative trait loci analysis of exome sequencing data.<p>

<p><i>Methods</i> - We sampled 415 VTE cases and 848 age‐ and sex‐matched controls from a population‐based cohort, the Tromsø study. Logistic regression models were used to calculate odds ratios with 95% confidence intervals for VTE across quartiles of plasma levels of TCC. Whole exome sequencing was conducted using the Agilent SureSelect 50 Mb capture kit.<p>

<p><i>Results</i> - The risk of VTE increased across increasing quartiles of plasma TCC, particularly for unprovoked VTE. Participants with TCC in the highest quartile (>1.40 complement arbitrary units/mL) had an odds ratio for unprovoked VTE of 1.74 (95% confidence interval: 1.10–2.78) compared with those with TCC in the lowest quartile (≤0.80 complement arbitrary units/mL) in analyses adjusted for age, sex, and body mass index. A substantially higher risk for VTE was observed in samples taken shortly before VTE event. We found no association between genome‐wide or complement‐related gene variants and plasma levels of TCC.<p>

<p><i>Conclusions</i> - We found that high levels of plasma TCC were associated with VTE risk, and unprovoked events in particular. There was no genome‐wide association between gene variants and plasma levels of TCC.