Lucknow, Jan 18 : A study by the King George's Medical University (KGMU) has identified a marker that can predict coronary artery disease (CAD). Through this, a simple blood test will soon be able to predict the possibility of heart attack. The test will give an opportunity to patients to take medications and make lifestyle interventions to reduce risk. The marker has been identified by a team of researchers from pathology and cardiology departments under Dr Wahid Ali from pathology department. In a study conducted on 160 patients, the team found that the level of soluble lectin-like oxidized low-density lipoprotein (sLOX) can predict CAD severity and onset. The study was published in the International Journal of Clinical Medicine in December last year and was recently awarded as the best paper in preclinical research at KGMU's research showcase. For the study, patients were divided into four groups. The first group had 18 patients who underwent coronary angiography which was also termed pre-percutaneous intervention (pre-PCI). The second group had 50 patients of stable CAD who underwent percutaneous intervention (post-PCI), while the third group was of 64 patients of acute coronary syndrome (ACS). The remaining 28 were healthy individuals. "The level of serum sLOX-1 concentration was measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). It was found that level serum in pre/post PCI and ACS patients, were significantly high in comparison to healthy individuals," said Dr Wahid Ali. "We consider blood marker test reliable when sensitivity (percentage of patients whom marker respond as per disease level) is above 80 per cent and specificity is over 90 per cent. We found out the marker sensitivity and specificity of 87. 88 per cent and 100 per cent, respectively," he explained. Dr Sandeep Kumar, another faculty in the pathology department who was part of the team, said: "Even the recurrence of coronary artery disease was observed in 9 out of 132 (6. 8 per cent) cases, where sLOX-1 level is higher in recurrent cases. "We normally conduct CT angiography to identify CAD but often patients with serious symptoms are tested through this. Initial success has shown that sLOX-1 is a useful biomarker for CAD/ACS and has the potential for risk prediction of a future recurrence of CAD. However, further study is required to establish the claim." /IANS