Plasma levels and diagnostic value of catestatin in patients with heart failure

Area of Science:

• Cardiovascular Research
• Neuropeptide Function
• Biomarker Discovery

Background:

• Catestatin (CST) is an endogenous neuropeptide with known cardiovascular activities.
• Understanding its role in heart failure (HF) is crucial for biomarker development.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate circulating catestatin (CST) levels in patients with heart failure (HF).
• To evaluate the potential of CST as a diagnostic biomarker for HF.

Main Methods:

• Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was used to measure plasma CST concentrations.
• Study included 228 HF patients across NYHA classes and 172 healthy controls.
• Multivariable analysis identified predictors of plasma CST levels.

Main Results:

• Plasma CST levels showed a gradual increase from NYHA class I to IV in HF patients.
• Significantly higher CST levels were observed in NYHA class III and IV patients compared to controls and lower NYHA classes.
• CST levels were higher in HF patients with ischemic etiology (NYHA III/IV) and did not significantly differ between preserved and reduced ejection fraction groups.
• NYHA class, HF etiology, and estimated glomerular filtration rate independently predicted plasma CST levels.
• The diagnostic accuracy for moderate to severe HF was 0.626 for CST and 0.831 for BNP, with no improvement when combined.

Conclusions:

• Circulating catestatin levels are elevated in heart failure patients, increasing with disease severity.
• Catestatin is not a more accurate biomarker than BNP for diagnosing moderate to severe heart failure.
• Further research may explore CST's role in HF pathophysiology or as an adjunct biomarker.