title: Urotensin II in end-stage renal disease: an inverse correlate of sympathetic function and cardiac natriuretic peptides.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Urotensin II (UTN) is a peptide highly conserved across species with disparate effects on the vascular system and it is currently unclear whether high plasma UTN levels play a vasculotoxic or a vasculoprotective role.
  
  
  METHODS
  In this study, we investigated the relationship between plasma UTN and sympathetic activity and cardiac natriuretic hormones in 191 hemodialysis (HD) patients without clinical evidence of heart failure.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Plasma UTN was significantly higher in patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) (median: 6.5 ng/mL) than in age matched healthy subjects (median: 3.1 ng/mL) (p<0.001). On univariate analysis, UTN was inversely related to heart rate (r=-0.24), dialysis treatment duration (r=-0.27), norepinephrine (r=-0.28), neuropeptide Y (NPY) (r=-0.66), brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) (r=-0.41) and atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP) (r=-0.28) (all p<0.008). Of note, in multiple regression analyses these associations maintained strength similar to that of the corresponding unadjusted correlation coefficients.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The inverse links between UTN and neuro-hormonal factors indicate that UTN down-regulation in the presence of high sympathetic activity and high BNP could be a counter-regulatory response aimed at mitigating cardiovascular (CV) damage or that UTN itself acts as a protective factor.
authors.affiliation: CNR-IBIM, Institute of Biomedicine, Clinical Epidemiology and Physiopathology of Renal Diseases and Hypertension & Division of Nephrology, Dialysis and Transplantation, Reggio Calabria - Italy.
authors.forename: Francesca
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Mallamaci
authors.forename: Sebastiano
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Cutrupi
authors.forename: Patrizia
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Pizzini
authors.forename: Giovanni
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Tripepi
authors.forename: Carmine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Zoccali
mesh_terms: D009320:Atrial Natriuretic Factor / Q000097:blood*; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood; D001794:Blood Pressure / Q000502:physiology; D003956:Dialysis; D018450:Disease Progression; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006339:Heart Rate / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D007676:Kidney Failure, Chronic / Q000097:blood* / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000628:therapy; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D020097:Natriuretic Peptide, Brain / Q000097:blood*; D009478:Neuropeptide Y / Q000097:blood; D009638:Norepinephrine / Q000097:blood; D012307:Risk Factors; D013564:Sympathetic Nervous System / Q000503:physiopathology*; D014579:Urotensins / Q000097:blood*
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D009478:Neuropeptide Y; D014579:Urotensins; D020097:Natriuretic Peptide, Brain; D009320:Atrial Natriuretic Factor; C029677:urotensin II; D009638:Norepinephrine