title: Higher serum tenascin-C levels reflect the severity of heart failure, left ventricular dysfunction and remodeling in patients with dilated cardiomyopathy.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Tenascin-C (TN-C), an extracellular matrix glycoprotein, is specifically expressed at high levels during embryonic development, but not in the adult heart. TN-C reappears at sites of inflammatory tissue remodeling or wound healing under various pathologic conditions, such as acute myocardial infarction, acute myocarditis, and some cases of cardiomyopathy. Therefore, the expression of TN-C might be useful for detecting the clinical characteristics of, and ventricular remodeling in, dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Circulating serum TN-C levels in 107 patients with DCM were measured using an ELISA kit. Clinical data were also assessed by Pearson's or Spearman's correlation analysis to estimate correlations between variables. Serum TN-C levels in DCM patients were higher than those in normal controls (p<0.001). TNC levels showed a significantly positive correlation with New York Heart Association functional class (p<0.001), B-type natriuretic peptide level (p<0.001), cardiothoracic ratio on chest X-ray (p<0.01), left ventricular end-diastolic diameter (p<0.05) and left ventricular end-systolic diameter (p<0.01), and a significantly negative correlation with left ventricular ejection fraction (p<0.01).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The findings suggest that increased serum TN-C levels indicate the severity of heart failure, left ventricular dysfunction and remodeling in patients with DCM.
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine (III), Osaka Medical College, Takatsuki, Japan. in3012@poh.osaka-med.ac.jp
authors.forename: Fumio
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Terasaki
authors.forename: Hiroshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Okamoto
authors.forename: Katsuya
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Onishi
authors.forename: Akira
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sato
authors.forename: Hiroaki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Shimomura
authors.forename: Bin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Tsukada
authors.forename: Kyoko
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Imanaka-Yoshida
authors.forename: Michiaki
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hiroe
authors.forename: Toshimichi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Yoshida
authors.forename: Yasushi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kitaura
authors.forename: Akira
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kitabatake
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood; D002311:Cardiomyopathy, Dilated / Q000097:blood / Q000473:pathology*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D005260:Female; D006333:Heart Failure / Q000097:blood / Q000175:diagnosis*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D019063:Tenascin / Q000097:blood*; D018487:Ventricular Dysfunction, Left / Q000097:blood / Q000175:diagnosis*; D020257:Ventricular Remodeling
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D019063:Tenascin