title: Plasma connective tissue growth factor is a novel potential biomarker of cardiac dysfunction in patients with chronic heart failure.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine and Biological Science, Gunma University Graduate School of Medicine, Maebashi, Gunma, Japan.
authors.forename: Norimichi
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Koitabashi
authors.forename: Masashi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Arai
authors.forename: Kazuo
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Niwano
authors.forename: Atai
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Watanabe
authors.forename: Michiko
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Endoh
authors.forename: Masahiko
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Suguta
authors.forename: Tomoyuki
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Yokoyama
authors.forename: Hiroshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Tada
authors.forename: Takuji
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Toyama
authors.forename: Hitoshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Adachi
authors.forename: Shigeto
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Naito
authors.forename: Shigeru
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Oshima
authors.forename: Takashi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Nishida
authors.forename: Satoshi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kubota
authors.forename: Masaharu
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Takigawa
authors.forename: Masahiko
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kurabayashi
mesh_terms: 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
chemical_list: 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