A prominent candidate, insulin-like growth factor binding protein (IGFBP-3), was then interrogated for its ability to identify CAD-related ischaemia (e.g. positive cardiac stress test; unstable angina pectoris, UAP; arterial stenosis >70% on angiography) in multiple patient sample sets [cardiac stress testing, n = 12; septal alcohol ablation (SAA), n = 12; ED chest pain, n = 2977]. Here, IGFBP3 is linked to alcohol dependence.