The fibrosis marker galectin-3 and outcome in the general population.
OBJECTIVE
Galectin-3 is involved in fibrosis and inflammation and plays a role in heart failure, renal disease, obesity and cancer. We aimed to establish the relationship between galectin-3 and cardiovascular (CV) risk factors and mortality in the general population.


METHODS
This study included 7968 subjects from the Prevention of REnal and Vascular ENd-stage Disease (PREVEND) cohort, with a median follow-up of approximately 10 years. Plasma galectin-3 was measured in baseline samples.


METHODS
We investigated the relationships between galectin-3 levels, demographic characteristics and risk factors of CV disease. We determined the prognostic value for all-cause, CV and cancer mortality.


RESULTS
The mean age of the population was 50 ± 13 years. Mean blood pressure was 129/74 mmHg, mean cholesterol was 5.7 ± 1.1 mmol L(-1) and median galectin-3 was 10.9 ng mL(-1) [interquartile range (IQR) 9.0-13.1]. Galectin-3 levels correlated with a wide range of risk factors of CV disease, including blood pressure, serum lipids, body mass index, renal function and N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide (P < 0.0001). We observed a strong association between galectin-3 and age. Furthermore, we found a gender interaction, with female subjects (n = 4001) having higher median galectin-3 levels (11.0 ng mL(-1) , IQR 9.1-13.4 vs. men (n = 3967) 10.7 ng mL(-1) , IQR 8.9-12.8; P < 0.0001), and galectin-3 levels in women more strongly correlated with risk factors of CV disease. After correction for the classical CV risk factors (smoking, blood pressure, cholesterol and diabetes), galectin-3 levels independently predicted all-cause mortality (hazard ratio per SD galectin-3 1.09, 95% CI 1.01-1.19; P = 0.036), but not CV and cancer mortality separately.


CONCLUSIONS
Galectin-3 is associated with age and risk factors of CV disease, with a strong gender interaction for these correlations. Galectin-3 predicts all-cause mortality in the general population.
Department of Cardiology, University Medical Center Groningen, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands. r.a.de.boer@umcg.nl
R A
RA
de Boer
D J
DJ
van Veldhuisen
R T
RT
Gansevoort
A C
AC
Muller Kobold
W H
WH
van Gilst
H L
HL
Hillege
S J L
SJ
Bakker
P
P
van der Harst
D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood; D015992:Body Mass Index; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000097:blood* / Q000209:etiology / Q000401:mortality*; D015331:Cohort Studies; D015986:Confounding Factors, Epidemiologic; D005260:Female; D005355:Fibrosis / Q000097:blood; D037502:Galectin 3 / Q000097:blood*; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000150:complications; D053208:Kaplan-Meier Estimate; D007668:Kidney / Q000503:physiopathology; D008055:Lipids / Q000097:blood; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D020097:Natriuretic Peptide, Brain / Q000097:blood; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000097:blood* / Q000209:etiology / Q000401:mortality*; D016017:Odds Ratio; D010446:Peptide Fragments / Q000097:blood; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011379:Prognosis; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012307:Risk Factors; D012737:Sex Factors
D015415:Biomarkers; D037502:Galectin 3; D008055:Lipids; D010446:Peptide Fragments; C109794:pro-brain natriuretic peptide (1-76); D020097:Natriuretic Peptide, Brain