A higher level of serum furin indicates a higher risk of microalbuminuria: results from a longitudinal study in Chinese adults

Abstract

Background Furin, a key enzyme of natriuretic peptide system, has been suggested to play a role in microalbuminuria, but the association between furin and microalbuminuria has been scarcely studied. Methods Leveraging a longitudinal cohort of Chinese adults who had urinary albumin measured twice 4 years apart, we examined the cross-sectional and prospective associations of baseline serum furin with microalbuminuria, adjusting for age, sex, education level, smoking, drinking, obesity, blood pressure, glucose, lipids, and antihypertensive medications. Results The cross-sectional analysis in 2175 participants (53 ± 10 years, 38% men) found that a 10-time higher level of serum furin was significantly associated with a 64% higher risk of having microalbuminuria (OR = 1.64, P = 0.005). The longitudinal analysis found a positive association between baseline serum furin and dynamic elevation of albumin excretion during follow-up. The prospective analysis in 1357 participants free of microalbuminuria at baseline found that a 10-time higher level of serum furin at baseline was significantly associated with a 1.28-time higher risk of developing microalbuminuria 4 years later (OR = 2.28, P < 0.001). Conclusions A higher level of serum furin at baseline predicted an increased risk of developing microalbuminuria in Chinese adults. These findings indicate that furin might be a predictor or a risk factor for microalbuminuria but the causality still needs more investigations.

FURIN Promoter Methylation Predicts the Risk of Incident Diabetes: A Prospective Analysis in the Gusu Cohort

“…The association between serum furin and the development of diabetes was also found by a prospective cohort study (7). Further, our prior studies found that a lower level of serum furin was also associated with some metabolic dysfunctions related to diabetes, such as obesity (8), hypertension (9), and microalbuminuria (10) in Chinese adults. Moreover, genetic polymorphisms in FURIN, the coding gene of furin protein, have been associated with metabolic syndrome (11) and hypertension (12), both conditions shared many risk factors and mechanisms with diabetes.…”