Abstract:
Objective To investigate the associations between soluble growth stimulation expressed gene 2 protein (sST2), conventional biomarkers and left ventricular geometry in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD).
Methods Patients with non-dialysis-dependent CKD in Department of Nephrology, Zhongshan Hospital, Fudan University were enrolled from August 2019 to December 2020. Clinical data were collected, and serum sST2, N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) and high-sensitivity cardiac troponin T (hs-cTnT) were measured. Left ventricular structure was assessed by transthoracic echocardiography. Left ventricular geometric patterns were defined according to left ventricular mass index (LVMI) and relative wall thickness (RWT). Differences of cardiac biomarkers between different left ventricle geometric groups were analyzed with Tukey's post-hoc test. Multiple linear regression models were used to evaluate the correlations between biomarkers and cardiac structure parameters.
Results A total of 652 patients with CKD were enrolled, and the detection rate of LVH was 33.4%. The detection rate of LVH increased as kidney function worsened, with 64.3% in CKD G5 patients. Compared with normal geometry group, NT-proBNP and hs-cTnT levels elevated in both concentric LVH (cLVH) and eccentric LVH (eLVH) patients (P < 0.001), while sST2 level only elevated in the cLVH patients (P=0.025). Multiple linear regression analysis showed that sST2 was associated with LAD and LVMI (P < 0.01); NT-proBNP was associated with left atrial diameter (LAD), left ventricular end-diastolic diameter (LVEDD), left ventricular end-systolic diameter (LVESD), posterior wall thickness (PWT), interventricular septum thickness (IVST), left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF), left ventricular mass (LVM), and LVMI (P < 0.000 1); hs-cTnT was associated with LAD, PWT, IVST, LVM, RWT and LVMI (P < 0.01).
Conclusions sST2 could increase in CKD patients with cLVH, while has not significant change in eLVH patients, which is different from NT-proBNP and hs-cTnT.