Blood Plasma Resistin and Atrial Fibrillation in Patients With Cardiovascular Disease.

BACKGROUND: Atrial fibrillation (AF) affects quality of life and prognosis of patients with cardiovascular disease. Resistin plays an important role in inflammatory response to internal and external factors. The aim of this study is to evaluate the association between resistin and permanent AF (PAF) in patients with cardiovascular disease. METHODS: In our study, we included 146 patients with cardiovascular disease. Plasma resistin concentrations and demographic characteristics of patients were recorded. The patients were divided in two groups: 118 patients without a history of PAF (NonAF group), and 28 patients with a history of PAF (AF group). Association of resistin with PAF and other variables was examined by parametric and non-parametric tests, and multivariable linear and univariable logistic regression analysis. RESULTS: No differences of demographic characteristics (gender, age and body mass index (BMI)) between two groups were observed (P > 0.05). Higher median levels of resistin were observed in group AF than in group NonAF (6.90 ng/mL vs. 5.83 ng/mL, P = 0.03). Multivariate linear regression analysis (adjusted to gender, age, BMI, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, coronary artery disease, and mitral valve disease) showed that resistin was associated with PAF (ß = 0.79, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.08 to 1.51, P = 0.03). CONCLUSIONS: Our analysis showed that plasma resistin was associated with PAF, and resistin concentration was higher in patients with AF compared to those without AF.

Proteomic profile of patients with atrial fibrillation undergoing cardiac surgery.

OBJECTIVES: Proteomic analysis of patients with advanced cardiovascular disease was conducted to identify possible biomarkers for atrial fibrillation (AF). METHODS: A total of 123 patients undergoing cardiac surgery (22 with AF and 101 without AF) and 20 healthy subjects were recruited. Demographic data, patient history and blood samples were collected. Growth/differentiation factor 15, resistin, intracellular adhesion molecule-1, galectin-3, trefoil factor 3, tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinases 1, matrix metallopeptidase 9, high-sensitive troponin T, interleukins 6, 1α, 3, 4, 8, 20 and 22, tumour necrosis factor alpha, C-X-C motif chemokines 10 and 11, S100A6 and Type III procollagen were measured in blood serum. Differential expression between any 2 groups for any of the measured proteins was identified by fitting linear models, whereas Matthews Correlation Coefficient was used to evaluate their predictive capacity. Combined markers using more than 1 protein were attained via weighted Support Vector Machines. RESULTS: Although serum levels of the markers were higher in patients with cardiovascular disease than in healthy subjects, only growth/differentiation factor 15 and resistin were significantly higher in patients with AF among the subpopulation who underwent heart surgery (P = 0.029 and P = 0.007, respectively). Specific pairs of several biomarkers had mediocre predictive capacity for AF. CONCLUSIONS: Growth/differentiation factor 15 and resistin are 2 markers that could be helpful in stratifying risk for AF in patients with cardiovascular disease. Yet, more research in terms of proteomics and investigation of possible molecular pathways implicated is required.

Short Leukocyte Telomere Length Precedes Clinical Expression of Atherosclerosis: The Blood-and-Muscle Model.

RATIONALE: Short telomere length (TL) in leukocytes is associated with atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD). It is unknown whether this relationship stems from having inherently short leukocyte TL (LTL) at birth or a faster LTL attrition thereafter. LTL represents TL in the highly proliferative hematopoietic system, whereas TL in skeletal muscle represents a minimally replicative tissue. OBJECTIVE: We measured LTL and muscle TL (MTL) in the same individuals with a view to obtain comparative metrics for lifelong LTL attrition and learn about the temporal association of LTL with ASCVD. METHODS AND RESULTS: Our Discovery Cohort comprised 259 individuals aged 63±14 years (mean±SD), undergoing surgery with (n=131) or without (n=128) clinical manifestation of ASCVD. In all subjects, MTL adjusted for muscle biopsy site (MTLA) was longer than LTL and the LTL-MTLA gap similarly widened with age in ASCVD patients and controls. Age- and sex-adjusted LTL (P=0.005), but not MTLA (P=0.90), was shorter in patients with ASCVD than controls. The TL gap between leukocytes and muscle (LTL-MTLA) was wider (P=0.0003), and the TL ratio between leukocytes and muscle (LTL/MTLA) was smaller (P=0.0001) in ASCVD than in controls. Findings were replicated in a cohort comprising 143 individuals. CONCLUSIONS: This first study to apply the blood-and-muscle TL model shows more pronounced LTL attrition in ASCVD patients than controls. The difference in LTL attrition was not associated with age during adulthood suggesting that increased attrition in early life is more likely to be a major explanation of the shorter LTL in ASCVD patients. CLINICAL TRIAL REGISTRATION: URL: http://www.clinicaltrials.gov. Unique identifier: NCT02176941.