Correlation of soluble growth stimulation expressed gene 2 and galectin-3 with myocardial fibrosis in patients with coronary artery disease

Abstract:

Objective To investigate the correlation of soluble growth stimulation expressed gene 2（sST2） and galectin-3（Gal-3） with myocardial fibrosis（MF） in patients with coronary artery disease（CAD），and to guide the evaluation of ischemic MF in clinical practice.Methods A total of 56 patients with CAD and 31 patients without CAD who were hospitalized in our department from September 2021 to September 2022 were enrolled as subjects，and according to the results of cardiovascular magnetic resonance-late gadolinium enhancement（CMR-LGE），the CAD group was further divided into MF（LGE positive） subgroup and non-MF（LGE negative） subgroup. General clinical data were collected from all subjects，and ELISA was used to measure the serum levels of sST2 and Gal-3. The correlation of sST2 and Gal-3 with CMR-LGE results was analyzed.Results Compared with the non-CAD group，the CAD group had significantly higher levels of sST2 and Gal-3，blood pressure，creatinine，uric acid，interventricular septum thickness，glycosylated hemoglobin，and CAS score（P<0.05） and significantly lower glomerular filtration rate and high-density lipoprotein（P<0.05）. Compared with the LGE-negative subgroup，the LGE-positive subgroup had significantly higher levels of sST2，Gal-3，and pro-B-type natriuretic peptide（P<0.05） and a significantly lower level of high-density lipoprotein（P<0.05）. LGE was positively correlated with sST2（r_s=0.338，P=0.011），Gal-3（r_s=0.428，P=0.001），and pro-B-type natriuretic peptide（r_s=0.364，P=0.006） and was negatively correlated with high-density lipoprotein（r_s=-0.339，P=0.011），and the partial correlation analysis with control variables showed that LGE was independently correlated with sST2（r=0.312，P=0.037） and Gal-3（r=0.419，P=0.004）. The analysis showed that sST2 or Gal-3 used alone or in combination had a sensitivity of 65%，87%，and 70%，respectively，and a specificity of 81%，56%，and 87%，respectively，in detecting MF，and sST2 and Gal-3 had an optimal cut-off value of 36.01 ng/mL and 13.04 ng/mL，respectively，in predicting the presence or absence of ischemic MF.Conclusion This study shows that sST2 and Gal-3 can be used to predict ischemic MF and are highly consistent with CMR-LGE in evaluating MF.