title: Prognostic significance of circulating levels of hepatocyte growth factor in patients with chagas' disease and idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) plays an important role in the improvement in cardiac function and remodeling in a variety of cardiovascular diseases. It is also a strong predictor of mortality in some heart failure (HF) patients. However, its prognostic value in patients with Chagas' disease (CD) or idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) remains to be investigated.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In this prospective cohort study, HGF concentrations were measured in patients with CD (n = 91), DCM (n = 47), and control subjects (n = 25). While no difference was detected for patients with New York Heart Association class I-II, HGF was significantly increased in advanced HF patients (New York Heart Association class III-IV) in both CD and DCM groups, compared with healthy subjects. There was a strong correlation between HGF and left ventricular ejection fraction in CD patients. However, there was no correlation in patients with DCM. Despite its strong correlation with left ventricular ejection fraction in CD patients, HGF failed to predict mortality and necessity for heart transplant in both CD and DCM patients.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Although HGF can be significantly increased in advanced HF patients with CD and DCM, its prognostic value for endpoints is minor. Therefore, the formerly described predictive power for HGF in HF might be restricted to specific etiologies of HF.
authors.affiliation: Department of Experimental Cardiology, Excellence Cluster Cardio-Pulmonary System, Justus-Liebig University, Giessen, Germany.
authors.forename: Yong
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Maria da Consolação V
authors.initials: Mda C
authors.lastname: Moreira
authors.forename: Adnan
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Khan
authors.forename: Silvia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Heringer-Walther
authors.forename: Heinz-Peter
authors.initials: HP
authors.lastname: Schultheiss
authors.forename: Niels
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Wessel
authors.forename: Wolf-Eberhard
authors.initials: WE
authors.lastname: Siems
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Walther
mesh_terms: D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood*; D001794:Blood Pressure / Q000502:physiology; D002311:Cardiomyopathy, Dilated / Q000097:blood* / Q000401:mortality; D014355:Chagas Disease / Q000097:blood* / Q000401:mortality; D005260:Female; D006333:Heart Failure / Q000175:diagnosis; D016027:Heart Transplantation; D017228:Hepatocyte Growth Factor / Q000097:blood*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011379:Prognosis; D015996:Survival Rate
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D017228:Hepatocyte Growth Factor