Urinary NGAL and hematic ADMA levels: an early sign of cardio-renal syndrome in young adults born preterm?
BACKGROUND
Prematurity at birth is a known risk factor for the development of an early chronic renal disease. Urinary neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (NGAL) is a well established biomarker of kidney injury, while high blood levels of asymmetric dimethylarginine (ADMA) are associated with the future development of adverse cardiovascular events and cardiac death.


OBJECTIVE
(1) to verify the presence of statistically significant differences between urinary NGAL and hematic ADMA levels in young adults born preterm at extremely low birth weight (<1000 g; ex-ELBW) and those of a control group of healthy adults born at term (C) (2) to seek correlations between NGAL and ADMA levels, which would indicate the presence of an early cardio-renal involvement in ex-ELBW.


METHODS
Twelve ex-ELBW subjects (six males and six female, mean age: 23.9 ± 3.2 years) were compared with 12 C (six males and six female). Urinary NGAL and hematic ADMA levels were assessed.


RESULTS
Urinary NGAL levels were higher in ex- ELBW subjects compared to C (p < 0.05), as well as hematic ADMA concentrations (p < 0.05). A statistically significant correlation was found between urinary NGAL and ADMA (r = -0.60, p < 0.04).


CONCLUSIONS
Our preliminary findings support the hypothesis that in ex-ELBW subjects the development of an early chronic kidney disease contributes towards inducing an increase in the atherosclerotic process and in the risk of future adverse cardiovascular events.
Department of Medical Sciences "M. Aresu", University of Cagliari , Cagliari , Italy .
Pier Paolo
PP
Bassareo
Vassilios
V
Fanos
Michele
M
Mussap
Giovanna
G
Flore
Antonio
A
Noto
Melania
M
Puddu
Luca
L
Saba
Giuseppe
G
Mercuro
D000209:Acute-Phase Proteins / Q000652:urine*; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D032721:Adult Children; D001120:Arginine / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000097:blood; D059347:Cardio-Renal Syndrome / Q000097:blood / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000652:urine; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007234:Infant, Premature; D000071068:Lipocalin-2; D054834:Lipocalins / Q000652:urine*; D008297:Male; D011247:Pregnancy; D047928:Premature Birth; D011379:Prognosis; D011518:Proto-Oncogene Proteins / Q000652:urine*; D055815:Young Adult
D000209:Acute-Phase Proteins; C489506:LCN2 protein, human; D000071068:Lipocalin-2; D054834:Lipocalins; D011518:Proto-Oncogene Proteins; C018524:N,N-dimethylarginine; D001120:Arginine