Plasma connective tissue growth factor is a novel potential biomarker of cardiac dysfunction in patients with chronic heart failure.
BACKGROUND
Connective tissue growth factor (CTGF) has been recently reported as a mediator of myocardial fibrosis; however, the significance of plasma CTGF concentration has not been evaluated in patients with heart failure. The aim of this study was to investigate the clinical utility of plasma CTGF concentration for the diagnosis of heart failure.


RESULTS
We evaluated fifty-two patients with chronic heart failure. The plasma concentration of CTGF and other markers of fibrosis were assessed and compared with clinical and echocardiographic data. Plasma CTGF was significantly elevated in symptomatic patients in proportion to their NYHA classes and was significantly correlated with plasma brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) concentration (r=0.395, P<0.01). Plasma CTGF was also correlated with plasma transforming growth factor beta (TGF-beta) (r=0.512, P<0.01), matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-2 (r=0.391, P<0.05) and tissue inhibitor of MMP (TIMP)-2 (r=0.354, P<0.05) concentrations. Interestingly, plasma CTGF was correlated with E/E' value evaluated by tissue Doppler echocardiography (r=0.593, P=0.012), but not with systolic function and left ventricular mass.


CONCLUSIONS
Our study suggests that plasma CTGF concentration is a novel diagnostic marker for cardiac dysfunction and may provide additional specific information about myocardial fibrosis in chronic heart failure patients.
Koitabashi
Norimichi
N
Department of Medicine and Biological Science, Gunma University Graduate School of Medicine, Maebashi, Gunma, Japan.
Arai
Masashi
M
Niwano
Kazuo
K
Watanabe
Atai
A
Endoh
Michiko
M
Suguta
Masahiko
M
Yokoyama
Tomoyuki
T
Tada
Hiroshi
H
Toyama
Takuji
T
Adachi
Hitoshi
H
Naito
Shigeto
S
Oshima
Shigeru
S
Nishida
Takashi
T
Kubota
Satoshi
S
Takigawa
Masaharu
M
Kurabayashi
Masahiko
M
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood; D055513:Connective Tissue Growth Factor; D015150:Echocardiography, Doppler; D016326:Extracellular Matrix Proteins / Q000097:blood; D005260:Female; D006333:Heart Failure / Q000097:blood / Q000175:diagnosis*; D006801:Humans; D017874:Immediate-Early Proteins / Q000097:blood*; D036341:Intercellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins / Q000097:blood*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D020097:Natriuretic Peptide, Brain / Q000097:blood; D009638:Norepinephrine / Q000097:blood; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D016212:Transforming Growth Factor beta / Q000097:blood; D020257:Ventricular Remodeling / Q000502:physiology
D015415:Biomarkers; C526317:CCN2 protein, human; D016326:Extracellular Matrix Proteins; D017874:Immediate-Early Proteins; D036341:Intercellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins; D016212:Transforming Growth Factor beta; D020097:Natriuretic Peptide, Brain; D055513:Connective Tissue Growth Factor; D009638:Norepinephrine