title: Circulating Galectin-3 Is Associated With Cardiometabolic Disease in the Community.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Circulating Galectin-3 (Gal-3) concentrations are associated with an increased incidence of heart failure, atrial fibrillation, chronic kidney disease, and mortality. Recent evidence suggests that Gal-3 may also be an important modulator of cardiometabolic traits such as adiposity, insulin resistance, and hyperglycemia. We examined the associations of blood Gal-3 concentrations and cardiometabolic disease traits in the Framingham Heart Study.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In cross-sectional analyses of 2946 Framingham Heart Study participants (mean age 59 years, 55% women), higher Gal-3 concentrations were associated with higher body mass index, waist circumference, and triglycerides (P<0.0001 for all). Higher Gal-3 was associated with greater odds of obesity (multivariable-adjusted odds ratio 1.16 per 1-SD increase in log-Gal-3, 95% CI 1.06-1.28, P=0.002) and hypertension (odds ratio 1.18, 95% CI 1.07-1.29, P=0.0006). In prospective analyses, Gal-3 was associated with incident metabolic syndrome (hazard ratio 1.22, 95% CI 1.10-1.36, P=0.0002) and diabetes (hazard ratio 1.21, 95% CI 1.04-1.41, P=0.02), in age- and sex-adjusted, but not multivariable-adjusted models.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In this large, community-based sample, circulating Gal-3 was associated with abdominal adiposity, dyslipidemia, and hypertension in cross-sectional analyses, but Gal-3 did not predict incident cardiometabolic disease after adjusting for cardiometabolic risk factors. Future investigations should focus on further elucidating mechanisms linking Gal-3 with cardiometabolic disease and on assessing whether modulation of the Gal-3 pathway might have positive cardiometabolic effects.
authors.affiliation: National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute's and Boston University's Framingham Heart Study, Framingham, MA (M.N., M.G.L., R.S.V., D.L., J.E.H.) Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA (M.N.).
authors.forename: Matthew
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Nayor
authors.affiliation: Data Coordinating Center, Boston University School of Public Health, Boston, MA (N.W.).
authors.forename: Na
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute's and Boston University's Framingham Heart Study, Framingham, MA (M.N., M.G.L., R.S.V., D.L., J.E.H.) Department of Biostatistics, Boston University School of Public Health, Boston, MA (M.G.L.) Section of Cardiovascular Medicine, Department of Mathematics and Statistics, Boston University, Boston, MA (M.G.L.).
authors.forename: Martin G
authors.initials: MG
authors.lastname: Larson
authors.affiliation: National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute's and Boston University's Framingham Heart Study, Framingham, MA (M.N., M.G.L., R.S.V., D.L., J.E.H.) Department of Epidemiology, Boston University School of Public Health, Boston, MA (R.S.V.) Sections of Preventive Medicine and Epidemiology and of Cardiology, Department of Medicine, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, MA (R.S.V.).
authors.forename: Ramachandran S
authors.initials: RS
authors.lastname: Vasan
authors.affiliation: National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute's and Boston University's Framingham Heart Study, Framingham, MA (M.N., M.G.L., R.S.V., D.L., J.E.H.) Center for Population Studies of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, Bethesda, MD (D.L.).
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Levy
authors.affiliation: National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute's and Boston University's Framingham Heart Study, Framingham, MA (M.N., M.G.L., R.S.V., D.L., J.E.H.) Section of Cardiovascular Medicine, Department of Medicine, Boston University, Boston, MA (J.E.H.).
authors.forename: Jennifer E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Ho
mesh_terms: D050154:Adiposity; D000368:Aged; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood; D001794:Blood Pressure; D001798:Blood Proteins; D015992:Body Mass Index; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D050171:Dyslipidemias / Q000097:blood* / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D037502:Galectin 3 / Q000097:blood*; D037161:Galectins; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000097:blood* / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology; D015994:Incidence; D016014:Linear Models; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D008404:Massachusetts / Q000453:epidemiology; D024821:Metabolic Syndrome / Q000097:blood* / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D056128:Obesity, Abdominal / Q000097:blood* / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology; D016017:Odds Ratio; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D011446:Prospective Studies; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012307:Risk Factors; D014280:Triglycerides / Q000097:blood; D015854:Up-Regulation; D055105:Waist Circumference
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D001798:Blood Proteins; D037502:Galectin 3; D037161:Galectins; C428445:LGALS3 protein, human; D014280:Triglycerides
keywords: epidemiology; obesity; prevention