Diagnostic significance of serum galectin-3 levels in heart failure with preserved ejection fraction

Objective Galectin-3, reflecting cardiac fibrosis, is a promising biomarker in early detection of heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF). We aimed to clarify the clinical utility of galectin-3 levels in the diagnosis of HFpEF and to compare galectin-3 with N-terminal pro-brain-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) levels. Methods and results The study included 44 HFpEF patients (mean age 60 +/- 6.78 years, 24 men) and 38 control subjects (mean age 57 +/- 8.98 years, 20 men). Galectin-3 and NT-proBNP levels were assessed by the ELISA kits. The receiver operating characteristics (ROC) curve was used to examine the diagnostic performance of galectin-3 and NT-proBNP in HFpEF. Galectin-3 and NT-proBNP levels were significantly increased in patients with HFpEF compared to controls [5.35 ng/ml (0.86 - 14.90) vs 0.51 ng/ml (0.15 - 1.71) P < 0.0001, 617.75 +/- 271.30 pg/ml vs 66.35 +/- 54.01 pg/ml P < 0.0001, respectively]. Galectin-3 correlated with NT-proBNP, left atrial volume index, left ventricular mass index, and E/E' (r=0.90, P<0.0001; r=0.75, P=0.0001; r=0.86, P=0.0001; r=0.80, P=0.0001; respectively). The area under the ROC curve was 0.98 for galectin-3 and 1.0 for NT-proBNP. Conclusions Our results support that, in addition to NT-proBNP, galectin-3 is also a valuable biomarker for the diagnosis of patients with HFpEF.