Association between growth differentiation factor 15 and left ventricular hypertrophy in hypertensive patients and healthy adults

ABSTRACT

Growth differentiation factor 15 (GDF-15) as an independent biomarker of cardiovascular diseases merits further evaluation. We studied the association between plasma GDF-15 levels and left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) in hypertensive patients and healthy adults. Hypertensive LVH measurements were performed via echocardiography and analyzed using the cube formula, and human GDF-15 together with interleukin-6 (IL-6) and matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9) concentrations were determined via enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). All data were analyzed using SPSS 13.0 software. A total of 302 participants were recruited for this clinical study. Circulating GDF-15, IL-6 and MMP-9 levels were significantly higher in LVH patients (n = 67) than in non-LVH patients (n = 172) and healthy controls (n = 63) (p < 0.001). After adjustment for confounders via multivariate logistic regression, elevated plasma GDF-15 concentrations remained independently associated with LVH in hypertensive patients. In addition, GDF-15 was positively correlated with IL-6 and MMP-9 levels in human plasma, respectively, suggesting that a link exists between GDF-15 expression and inflammation. We also calculated an optimal GDF-15 cut-off point with which LVH severity can be predicted in the current study. In conclusion, GDF-15 is associated with hypertensive LVH and may be a powerful biomarker with which LVH risk can be predicted in patients with hypertension.

KEYWORDS:

• Growth differentiation factor 15
• hypertension
• left ventricular hypertrophy
• interleukin 6
• matrix metalloproteinases 9

Acknowledgements

We thank Xiaojin Qin and Xiaofang Wang in the second affiliated hospital of Xi’an Jiaotong University for their help with the blood samples collection.

Declaration of interest

The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the article.

Funding

This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NO:81570382), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (NO: 0817-1191320079) and the Youth Research Project of the Second Affiliated Hospital of Xi’an Jiaotong University (NO: YJ-QN-201419 and RC-XM-201608).

Additional information

Funding

This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NO:81570382), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (NO: 0817-1191320079) and the Youth Research Project of the Second Affiliated Hospital of Xi’an Jiaotong University (NO: YJ-QN-201419).