Galectin-3, Acute Kidney Injury and Myocardial Damage in Patients With Acute Heart Failure.

BACKGROUND

Galectin-3, a biomarker of inflammation and fibrosis, can be associated with renal and myocardial damage and dysfunction in patients with acute heart failure (AHF).

METHODS AND RESULTS

We retrospectively analyzed 790 patients with AHF who were enrolled in the AKINESIS study. During hospitalization, patients with galectin-3 elevation (> 25.9 ng/mL) on admission more commonly had acute kidney injury (assessed by KDIGO criteria), renal tubular damage (peak urine neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin [uNGAL] > 150 ng/dL) and myocardial injury (≥ 20% increase in the peak high-sensitivity cardiac troponin I [hs-cTnI] values compared to admission). They less commonly had ≥ 30% reduction in B-type natriuretic peptide from admission to last measured value. In multivariable linear regression analysis, galectin-3 was negatively associated with estimated glomerular filtration rate and positively associated with uNGAL and hs-cTnI. Higher galectin-3 was associated with renal replacement therapy, inotrope use and mortality during hospitalization. In univariable Cox regression analysis, higher galectin-3 was associated with increased risk for the composite of death or rehospitalization due to HF and death alone at 1 year. After multivariable adjustment, higher galectin-3 levels were associated only with death.

CONCLUSIONS

In patients with AHF, higher galectin-3 values were associated with renal dysfunction, renal tubular damage and myocardial injury, and they predicted worse outcomes.