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134 | Chapter 8 Figure 8.4 | Area under the receiver operating characteristic curve, estimating the predictive accuracy of each protein with coronary artery calcium or coronary artery disease. AUC: Area under the curve; C1QB: Complement C1q subcomponent subunit B; C4B: Complement C4-B; CAD: Coronary artery disease; CD14: Monocyte differentiation antigen; CI: Confidence interval; HRG: Histidine-rich glycoprotein; ITIH3: Inter-alpha-trypsin inhibitor heavy chain H3; LRG1: Leucine-rich alpha-2-glycoprotein. LRG1, or leucine-rich α-2 glycoprotein is a highly conserved member of the leucine- rich repeat family of proteins, many of which have been found to play a role in protein- protein interaction, signalling and cell adhesion. 32 LRG1 has been shown to increase proliferation in cultured endothelial cells and is up-regulated and pro-angiogenic in mouse models of retinal disease. 33 A recent human study has found elevation of LRG1 is associated with arterial stiffness, endothelial dysfunction and peripheral vascular disease in patients with type 2 diabetes. 34 In the present study however, we saw almost a complete absence of LRG1 in the FH + CAD group when compared to the asymptomatic groups. Again, only one patient in the FH + CAD group had detectable levels of LRG1. The reason for this discrepancy between the previous animal and human studies and our study is unclear. It is possible that an initial elevation of LRG1 promotes arterial stiffening and endothelial dysfunction, both early hallmarks of atherosclerosis, but then decreases as the disease establishes and progresses. The findings from the