title: Absence of cystatin C involvement in ventricular remodelling and heart failure.
abstract: Cystatin C (CysC) is a protease encoded by housekeeping genes. Although its prognostic value in heart failure (HF) is well known, it is debatable whether this value is due to the greater accuracy of CysC in calculating the glomerular filtration rate or to its involvement in pathological ventricular remodelling. The aim of this study was to determine whether CysC expression changes in the myocardium of foetuses of different ages and in the myocardium of adults with various cardiovascular diseases, as well as to analyse the correlation between its serum concentrations and cardiac structure and morphology in a patient group with HF.
  
  
  METHODS
  We analysed the correlations (Pearson's r and Spearman's test) between the serum CysC levels and echocardiographic parameters of 351 patients with HF. We also performed immunohistochemical staining for CysC, metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9) and desmin in 9 cardiac tissue samples from autopsies of 4 foetuses of different gestational ages and 5 healthy adults or adults with cardiovascular disease.
  
  
  RESULTS
  For the patients with HF, there was no correlation between the CysC concentrations and the cardiac parameters measured by 2D echocardiography. The immunohistochemistry showed a weak background staining for CysC in all samples, regardless of age and the presence or absence of cardiovascular diseases.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our results suggest that CysC does not have a significant role in the pathological remodelling of the left ventricle in HF.
authors.affiliation: Servicio de Medicina Interna, Hospital Clínico Universitario Lozano Blesa Facultad de Medicina, Instituto de investigación Sanitaria de Aragón (IIS Aragón), Zaragoza, España. Electronic address: jiperez@unizar.es.
authors.forename: J I
authors.initials: JI
authors.lastname: Pérez-Calvo
authors.affiliation: Servicio de Anatomía Patológica, Hospital Clínico Universitario Lozano Blesa Facultad de Medicina, Zaragoza, España.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Castiella Muruzábal
authors.affiliation: Servicio de Medicina Interna, Hospital Clínico Universitario Lozano Blesa, Instituto de investigación Sanitaria de Aragón (IIS Aragón), Zaragoza, España.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Búcar Barjud
authors.affiliation: Servicio de Medicina Interna, Hospital Clínico Universitario Lozano Blesa, Instituto de investigación Sanitaria de Aragón (IIS Aragón), Zaragoza, España.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Josa Laorden
authors.affiliation: Servicio de Medicina Interna, Hospital Clínico Universitario Lozano Blesa, Instituto de investigación Sanitaria de Aragón (IIS Aragón), Zaragoza, España.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sánchez Marteles
authors.affiliation: Servicio de Cardiología, Hospital Clínico Universitario Lozano Blesa, Zaragoza, España.
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Lacambra Blasco
authors.affiliation: Servicio de Cardiología, Hospital Universitario Virgen de la Arrixaca Facultad de Medicina, Murcia, España.
authors.forename: M C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Asensio López
authors.affiliation: Servicio de Cardiología, Hospital Universitario Virgen de la Arrixaca Facultad de Medicina, Murcia, España.
authors.forename: D A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Pascual Figal
keywords: Cistatina C; Cisteín proteasas; Cystatin C; Cystein proteases; Genes de mantenimiento; Heart failure; Housekeeping genes; Insuficiencia cardiaca; Remodelado ventricular; Ventricular remodeling