Cardiovascular Disease Risk Biomarkers in Patients With CLL
Posted: Tuesday, July 20, 2021
Torbjörn Karlsson, MD, PhD, of the University Hospital, Uppsala, Sweden, analyzed the levels of 11 biomarkers involved in cardiovascular disease among a population of patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). Published in the journal Growth Factors, their results revealed eight biomarkers, including GDF15 and myostatin, had significantly different concentrations between patients with CLL and the control group. Consequently, the researchers suggest that further research is warranted to determine whether these biomarkers can predict future cardiovascular events in this patient population.
Blood plasma and serum of 139 patients with newly diagnosed CLL were obtained from the U-CAN biobank. A total of 11 cardiovascular disease risk biomarkers were analyzed: B2M, C-reactive protein, galectin-3, GDF15, MMP9, myostatin, PTX3, soluble TNFα receptor 1 and 2, and soluble VEGFR1 and 2. The control group included 71 age- and sex-matched healthy blood donors.
The median age for patients with CLL was 70, and the median age of the control group was 67; all individuals with CLL were treatment-naive. A total of 82%, 10%, and 8% of patients had Binet stage A, B, and C disease, respectively.
According to a principal component analysis plot, a more heterogeneous pattern of biomarkers was expressed in patients with CLL when compared with control patients, whose expression was clustered in a homogeneous fashion. It is noted that although there was no significant difference observed in levels of C-reactive protein, PTX3, or soluble VEGFR1 between the two cohorts, the levels of biomarkers such as MMP9, galectin-3, soluble TNFα receptor 1 and 2, myostatin, soluble VEGFR2 (all P < .001), and GDF15 (P < .05) were found to be higher in patients with CLL than in those in the control group.
Disclosure: The study authors reported no conflicts of interest.
