Clinical implication of plasma neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (NGAL) concentrations in patients with advanced carotid atherosclerosis
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Constantinos Giaginis
Abstract
Background: Neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (NGAL) is well established as an early and specific biomarker of kidney disease. Recent evidence further suggests that NGAL may play a crucial role in vascular remodeling and plaque instability during the development of atherosclerosis.
Methods: Plasma NGAL concentrations measured using a solid-phase enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) were correlated with medical history, risk factors and medication intake in 141 patients with advanced carotid atherosclerotic lesions who underwent carotid endarterectomy for vascular repair.
Results: Plasma NGAL concentrations were associated with patient age (Rs=0.2055, p=0.0144), plasma homocysteine (Rs=0.4274, p<0.00001) and serum creatinine (Rs=0.4640, p<0.00001) concentrations and estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) (Rs=−0.4911, p<0.00001). Hypertensive patients, as well as those receiving therapy with angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors, presented with significantly enhanced plasma NGAL concentrations when compared to normotensive (p=0.0341) patients and those not treated (p=0.0004). Enhanced NGAL concentrations did not meet statistical significance for patients with advanced stenosis grade (p=0.0971) or a history of peripheral artery disease (p=0.0827). Multiple regression analysis identified homocysteine, creatinine, eGFR and treatment with ACE inhibitors (p=0.0019, <0.00001, 0.0005 and 0.0219, respectively) as independent predictors of NGAL concentration.
Conclusions: Plasma NGAL concentrations were associated with patient age, hypertension, eGFR, creatinine and homocysteine concentrations and therapy with ACE inhibitors. The role of NGAL in the development of atherosclerosis needs to be further explored taking into consideration the uncontrolled effect of renal disease in atherosclerotic patients with multiple risk factors.
Clin Chem Lab Med 2010;48:1035–41.
©2010 by Walter de Gruyter Berlin New York
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Articles in the same Issue
- HIGHLIGHT: LABORATORY DIAGNOSTICS IN THE THIRD MILLENIUM: WHERE, HOW AND WHY
- Editorial
- Foreword
- Reviews
- Roots, development and future directions of laboratory medicine
- The “hospital central laboratory”: automation, integration and clinical usefulness
- Clinical pathology services: remapping our strategic itinerary
- Stat laboratory testing: integration or autonomy?
- Point-of-care testing in critical care: the clinician's point of view
- Reproductive-endocrine point-of-care testing: current status and limitations
- Laboratory testing in pharmacies
- Laboratory testing during critical care transport: point-of-care testing in air ambulances
- Self-monitoring of blood glucose with a focus on analytical quality: an overview
- Molecular diagnostics: between chips and customized medicine
- Evaluating laboratory diagnostic tests and translational research
- Integrated diagnostics: a conceptual framework with examples
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- The European Register of Specialists in Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine: Guide to the Register, Version 3-2010
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- PATHFAST™ NT-proBNP (N-terminal-pro B type natriuretic peptide): a multicenter evaluation of a new point-of-care assay
- Clinical implication of plasma neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (NGAL) concentrations in patients with advanced carotid atherosclerosis
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- Letter to the Editor
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