Cytokine Activation and Disease Progression in Patients With Stable Moderate Chronic Heart Failure

Complement anaphylatoxin C3a as a novel independent prognostic marker in heart failure

“…Autoantibodies have been identified in patients with cardiomyopathy that could directly activate the classic complement pathway [24]. CRP, a direct activator of complement, has been shown to be elevated in heart failure [25,26] and to correlate with SC5b9 levels [20]. Our observations on the correlation between activation product C3a (Tables 3, 4) and CRP seem to support this suggestion.…”

“…The 39 patients included in their study were followed for 6 months, but clinical events were not reported. In a more recent study [20] SC5b9 complex was measured in a cohort of 118 CHF patients followed for 1 year. Complement activation significantly correlated to CRP levels, however, authors did not analyze SC5b9 as a potential predictor of end-points.…”

Red cell distribution width and mortality in acute heart failure patients with preserved and reduced ejection fraction

“…Furthermore, IL‐6 are likely to be relevant in HF with preserved HF as suggested in a study by Collier et al which showed an increase of IL‐6 levels in patients with LVEF ≥50% and heart failure symptoms while IL‐6 was low in patients without HF symptoms . Complementary evidence of a pathophysiological role of IL‐6 in HF derives from the Health, Aging, and Body Composition (ABC) study that showed a correlation between increased IL‐6 levels and incident HF with preserved LVEF . Because blood samples were not retained from the present study population, we cannot correlate RDW with IL‐6 levels; however, increased CRP levels in patients with high RDW suggest increased IL‐6 levels because IL‐6 levels correlate with CRP levels patients with AHF and chronic HF …”

Cross-sectional study: CagA–positiveHelicobacter pyloriinfection, acute coronary artery disease and systemic levels of B-type natriuretic peptide

“…IL-6 has a crucial role in the development of atherosclerosis and ischaemic heart disorders: it is directly capable of inducing BNP mRNA and protein secretion by cultured rat cardiomyocytes31; levels of IL-6 contribute to short-term and long-term mortality of acute and chronic heart failure,31 32 and circulating levels of IL-6 can predict future myocardial infarction 33–35. Ischaemic heart disorders are the consequence of an atherosclerotic process.…”