title: Elevated Plasma Connective Tissue Growth Factor Levels in Children with Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension Associated with Congenital Heart Disease.
abstract: We aimed to investigate plasma connective tissue growth factor (CTGF) levels in pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) associated with congenital heart disease (CHD) (PAH-CHD) in children and the relationships of CTGF with hemodynamic parameters. Plasma CTGF levels were calculated in 30 children with CHD, 30 children with PAH-CHD and 25 health volunteers, using the subtraction method. Cardiac catheterization was performed to measure clinical hemodynamic parameters. Plasma CTGF levels were significantly higher in PAH-CHD than in those with CHD and health volunteers (p < 0.01). In cyanotic PAH-CHD, plasma CTGF levels were significantly elevated compared with acyanotic PAH-CHD in the same group (p < 0.05). Plasma CTGF levels showed positive correlation with B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP) in PAH-CHD (r = 0.475, p < 0.01), while oxygen saturation was inversely related to plasma CTGF levels (r = -0.436, p < 0.05). There was no correlation between CTGF and hemodynamic parameters. Even though the addition of CTGF to BNP did not significantly increase area under curve for diagnosis of PAH-CHD compared with BNP alone (p > 0.05), it revealed a moderately better specificity, positive predictive value and positive likelihood ratio than BNP alone. Plasma CTGF levels could be a promising diagnostic biomarker for PAH-CHD in children.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, The First Affiliated Hospital of Sichuan Medical University, No. 25 Taiping Street, Luzhou, 646000, Sichuan, China.
authors.forename: Gang
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Medical Research Center, The First Affiliated Hospital of Sichuan Medical University, Luzhou, 646000, Sichuan, China.
authors.forename: Li
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Tang
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, The First Affiliated Hospital of Sichuan Medical University, No. 25 Taiping Street, Luzhou, 646000, Sichuan, China.
authors.forename: Peng
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Jia
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, The First Affiliated Hospital of Sichuan Medical University, No. 25 Taiping Street, Luzhou, 646000, Sichuan, China.
authors.forename: Jian
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, The First Affiliated Hospital of Sichuan Medical University, No. 25 Taiping Street, Luzhou, 646000, Sichuan, China.
authors.forename: Dong
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, The First Affiliated Hospital of Sichuan Medical University, No. 25 Taiping Street, Luzhou, 646000, Sichuan, China. lblyfy@126.com.
authors.forename: Bin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Liu
mesh_terms: D019540:Area Under Curve; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood; D006328:Cardiac Catheterization; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D002681:China; D055513:Connective Tissue Growth Factor / Q000097:blood*; D005260:Female; D006330:Heart Defects, Congenital / Q000150:complications*; D006439:Hemodynamics; D006801:Humans; D006976:Hypertension, Pulmonary / Q000097:blood* / Q000503:physiopathology; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D020097:Natriuretic Peptide, Brain / Q000097:blood*; D012372:ROC Curve; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D020097:Natriuretic Peptide, Brain; D055513:Connective Tissue Growth Factor
keywords: Biomarker; Children; Congenital heart disease; Connective tissue growth factor; Pulmonary arterial hypertension