Recent reviews state that a circulating
biomarker predicting
aortic rupture risk would be a powerful tool to stratify patients with small screen-detected
abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA). In a current proteomic pilot-study elevated levels of the
enzyme Glycosylphosphatidylinositol-specific phospholipase D (
GPI-PLD) was shown in patients with small AAA compared with controls without
aneurysm. In the present study we investigated the impact of plasma
GPI-PLD as a
biomarker in patients with AAA in relation to
aneurysm size, and
rupture. Plasma
GPI-PLD was measured in patients with AAA (nonruptured, n=78 and ruptured, n=55) and controls without
aneurysm (n=41) matched by age, sex and smoking habit. The plasma
GPI-PLD levels were significantly lower in patients with ruptured compared nonruptured AAA which we interpreted as a result of
hemodilution due to
hemorrhage in patients with ruptured AAA. The plasma
GPI-PLD levels were similar in patients with nonruptured AAA compared to the controls without
aneurysm. Furthermore, there was no correlation between plasma
GPI-PLD and
aneurysm size in the group of patients with nonruptured AAA. In conclusion, the present study fails to show a connection between
GPI-PLD and AAA. However, the definite role of
GPI-PLD as a predictive marker needs to be further clarified in a follow-up cohort study.