Plasma pentraxin 3 is associated with cardiovascular disease in hemodialysis patients

This cross-sectional study evaluates the associations of Pentraxin 3 (PTX3) and cardiovascular disease (CVD) in hemodialysis (HD) patients. Plasma was obtained from 98 maintenance HD patients before and after a session of HD and 50 age-matched healthy subjects. We measured plasma PTX3 levels by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Our results showed that plasma PTX3 levels were significantly higher in HD patients compared with controls (1.87 vs. 1.11 ng/mL, p < 0.001), and increased acutely after a single HD session (post-HD 2.18 ng/mL vs. pre-HD 1.87 ng/mL, p < 0.001). Patients with CVD had higher plasma PTX3 levels than those without CVD (2.18 vs. 1.76 ng/mL, p < 0.05). Plasma PTX3 levels correlated positively with cardiac troponin T (ρ = 0.287, p = 0.007) and carotid artery intima-media thickness (ρ = 0.294, p = 0.043). High plasma PTX3 (>1.87 ng/mL) level was positively and independently associated with CVD (OR = 3.15, p = 0.024). Receiver operator characteristics analysis showed the correlation between PTX3 and CVD more closely than high sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) in patients whose hs-CRP were higher than 3 mg/L. The area under the curve for PTX3 and hs-CRP was 0.655 (p = 0.047) and 0.562 (p = 0.458), respectively. Moreover, plasma PTX3 levels correlated negatively with body mass index, hemoglobin, pre-albumin, total cholesterol, triglyceride, and low-density lipoprotein. These data support the main conclusions: PTX3 levels are markedly elevated in HD patients; HD procedure itself induces PTX3 elevation; plasma PTX3 is associated with CVD in maintenance HD patients.