title: Galectin-3 as a marker of interstitial atrial remodelling involved in atrial fibrillation.
abstract: Remodelling in the atria could appear as a result of hypertension, diabetes or ischaemic heart disease. Galectin-3 (Gal-3) is a mediator of profibrotic pathways and a potential biomarker of cardiac remodelling. We prospectively recruited consecutive patients undergoing elective cardiac surgery. Preoperative Gal-3 levels were determined from serum samples, and the presence of fibrosis was assessed from atrial appendage tissue samples obtained during cardiac surgery. We included 100 patients with aortic valve or ischaemic heart diseases and 15 controls with permanent AF. Gal-3 levels were associated with sex, left atrial volume, previous cardiac disease, diabetes mellitus, hypertension, NYHA and NT-proBNP. We observed differences in serum Gal-3 concentrations between patients and controls with permanent AF (p = 0.020). We performed ROC curves related to fibrosis and established a cutoff point for Gal-3 >13.65 ng/ml. Multivariate analyses showed previous cardiac disease, NYHA scale and high Gal-3 to be independent predictors of fibrosis. After adjustment for confounding factors, atrial fibrosis remained the only independent factor for the development of AF (p = 0.022). High Gal-3 serum levels predict fibrosis of the atrial appendage. NYHA scale and previous cardiac disease were also associated with tissue fibrosis in patients undergoing surgery. Atrial fibrosis was the only independent predictor for post-operative AF occurrence in our model after correcting for confounding factors.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, IMIB-Arrixaca from Murcia, Spain.
authors.forename: Diana
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Hernández-Romero
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Analysis, IMIB-Arrixaca from Murcia, Spain.
authors.forename: Juan Antonio
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Vílchez
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, IMIB-Arrixaca from Murcia, Spain.
authors.forename: Álvaro
authors.initials: Á
authors.lastname: Lahoz
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, IMIB-Arrixaca from Murcia, Spain.
authors.forename: Ana I
authors.initials: AI
authors.lastname: Romero-Aniorte
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, IMIB-Arrixaca from Murcia, Spain.
authors.forename: Eva
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Jover
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, IMIB-Arrixaca from Murcia, Spain.
authors.forename: Arcadio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: García-Alberola
authors.affiliation: Intensive Care Unit, IMIB-Arrixaca from Murcia, Spain.
authors.forename: Rubén
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Jara-Rubio
authors.affiliation: CIBERehd, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: Carlos M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Martínez
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, IMIB-Arrixaca from Murcia, Spain.
authors.forename: Mariano
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Valdés
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, IMIB-Arrixaca from Murcia, Spain.
authors.forename: Francisco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Marín
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D001281:Atrial Fibrillation / Q000097:blood* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D064752:Atrial Remodeling; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000378:metabolism; D001798:Blood Proteins; D005260:Female; D005355:Fibrosis; D037502:Galectin 3 / Q000097:blood*; D037161:Galectins; D006801:Humans; D016014:Linear Models; D008297:Male; D009206:Myocardium / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D012372:ROC Curve
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D001798:Blood Proteins; D037502:Galectin 3; D037161:Galectins; C428445:LGALS3 protein, human