title: Is plasma cardiotrophin-1 a marker of hypertensive heart disease?
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  This study was designed to investigate whether plasma concentration of cardiotrophin-1 (CT-1), a cytokine that induces cardiomyocyte hypertrophy and stimulates cardiac fibroblasts, is related to hypertensive heart disease, as defined by the presence of echocardiographically assessed left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH).
  
  
  METHODS
  The study was performed in 31 normotensive subjects and 111 patients with never-treated essential hypertension (54 without LVH and 57 with LVH). Causes of LVH other than hypertension were excluded after a complete medical workup. A novel enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay was developed to measure plasma CT-1.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Plasma CT-1 was increased (P < 0.001) in hypertensives compared with normotensives. The value of CT-1 was higher (P < 0.001) in hypertensives with LVH than in hypertensives without LVH. Some 31% of patients without LVH exhibited values of CT-1 above the upper normal limit in normotensives. A direct correlation was found between CT-1 and left ventricular mass index (r = 0.319, P < 0.001) in all subjects. Receiver operating characteristic curves showed that a cutoff of 39 fmol/ml for CT-1 provided 75% specificity and 70% sensitivity for predicting LVH with a relative risk of 6.21 (95% confidence interval, 2.95 to 13.09).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These results show an association between LVH and the plasma concentration of CT-1 in essential hypertension. Although preliminary, these findings suggest that the determination of CT-1 may be an easy and reliable method for the initial screening and diagnosis of hypertensive heart disease.
authors.affiliation: Area of Cardiovascular Pathophysiology, Centre for Applied Medical Research, School of Medicine, University of Navarra, Navarra, Spain.
authors.forename: Begoña
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: López
authors.forename: Arantxa
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: González
authors.forename: Juan J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Lasarte
authors.forename: Pablo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Sarobe
authors.forename: Francisco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Borrás
authors.forename: Agnes
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Díaz
authors.forename: Joaquín
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Barba
authors.forename: Lourdes
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Tomás
authors.forename: Elisa
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Lozano
authors.forename: Manuel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Serrano
authors.forename: Nerea
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Varo
authors.forename: Oscar
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Beloqui
authors.forename: María A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Fortuño
authors.forename: Javier
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Díez
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000906:Antibodies; D015415:Biomarkers; D001794:Blood Pressure; D016207:Cytokines / Q000097:blood* / Q000276:immunology; D004452:Echocardiography; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay / Q000379:methods; D005260:Female; D005355:Fibrosis; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000097:blood*; D017379:Hypertrophy, Left Ventricular / Q000097:blood* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D020097:Natriuretic Peptide, Brain; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins / Q000097:blood; D010446:Peptide Fragments / Q000097:blood; D011347:Procollagen / Q000097:blood; D012372:ROC Curve; D011817:Rabbits
chemical_list: D000906:Antibodies; D015415:Biomarkers; D016207:Cytokines; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins; D010446:Peptide Fragments; D011347:Procollagen; C109794:pro-brain natriuretic peptide (1-76); C042813:procollagen type I carboxy terminal peptide; D020097:Natriuretic Peptide, Brain; C092073:cardiotrophin 1