Tissue factor, its pathway inhibitor, and metabolic disturbances in long-term peritoneal dialysis

The tissue factor (TF) plays a key role in triggering the coagulation system in vivo. Our study was designed to determine whether or not the plasma levels of TF and its pathway inhibitor (TF pathway inhibitor; TFPI) in patients with chronic renal failure (CRF) treated by peritoneal dialysis (PD) (1) are pathologically altered; (2) differ between diabetics and nondiabetics, and (3) depend on the metabolic disorders associated with CRF and/or diabetes.

Using ELISA, plasma TF and TFPI levels were measured once in 21 PD patients (10 with diabetes, 11 without diabetes) and in 21 healthy subjects.

As compared with healthy subjects (TF 282 pg/ml; TFPI 73 ng/ml), both TF and TFPI levels were significantly higher in PD patients with diabetes (485 pg/ml, p < 0.001, and 106 ng/ml, p < 0.01, respectively) and in PD patients without diabetes (480 pg/ml, p < 0,001, and 121 ng/ml, p < 0.001, respectively). The difference between diabetics and nondiabetics was not significant. In stepwise regression analysis, the TF levels depended on serum creatinine (partial correlation 0.39, p < 0.05), glycemia (0.43, p < 0.01), and insulin (-0.43, p < 0.05), and the TFPI levels depended on creatinine (partial correlation 0.67, p < 0.001), apolipoprotein B (0.46, p < 0.01), and plasma fibrinogen (0.43, p < 0.01).

CRF patients on PD show increased plasma TF and TFPI levels. There is no difference between diabetics and nondiabetics. The TF and TFPI levels depend significantly on the renal function, as assessed by serum creatinine, and on some metabolic disorders. Elevated TF and TFPI levels may be related to thrombosis and atherosclerosis in CRF patients on PD.