Aortic valve stenosis and atrial fibrillation influence plasma fibulin-1 levels in patients treated with coronary bypass surgery.
OBJECTIVE
Aortic valve stenosis (AS) causes cardiac fibrosis and left ventricular hypertrophy, and over time heart failure can occur. To date, a reliable marker to predict progression of AS or the development of heart failure is still lacking. In this study, we addressed the hypothesis that fibulin-1 levels reflect myocardial fibrosis.


METHODS
Patients undergoing heart surgery at the Odense University were investigated. By 2012 data on outcome were obtained.


RESULTS
In 293 patients, plasma fibulin-1 levels were measured. Patients with AS or atrial fibrillation (AF) had significantly higher fibulin-1 levels compared to those with coronary artery disease only (p = 0.005). Patients with preoperatively diagnosed chronic AF had significantly higher levels of fibulin-1 compared to those without (p = 0.004). Plasma fibulin-1 levels showed no relationship to echocardiographic size and had no impact on outcome, death or other adverse events.


CONCLUSIONS
This study shows that plasma fibulin-1 levels are increased in patients with AS and AF compared to patients with coronary disease only. Our study results suggest fibulin-1, a vascular extracellular matrix (ECM) protein, as a marker of ECM turnover perhaps due to the increased myocardial stretch that is related to pressure overload.
Department of Clinical Biochemistry and Pharmacology, Odense University Hospital, Denmark.
Maria Lyck
ML
Hansen
Jordi S
JS
Dahl
W Scott
WS
Argraves
Akhmadjon
A
Irmukhamedov
Lars Melholt
LM
Rasmussen
D000368:Aged; D001024:Aortic Valve Stenosis / Q000097:blood* / Q000150:complications / Q000601:surgery*; D001281:Atrial Fibrillation / Q000097:blood* / Q000150:complications / Q000601:surgery; D002135:Calcium-Binding Proteins / Q000097:blood*; D002423:Cause of Death; D001026:Coronary Artery Bypass; D003324:Coronary Artery Disease / Q000097:blood; D005260:Female; D005355:Fibrosis / Q000097:blood; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009206:Myocardium / Q000473:pathology*; D011379:Prognosis
D002135:Calcium-Binding Proteins; C060820:fibulin