Evaluation of serum endothelial cell specific molecule-1 (endocan) levels as a biomarker in patients with pulmonary thromboembolism

Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between pulmonary thromboembolism (PTE) and serum endocan levels. The study included 46 patients with a diagnosis of PTE and control group (25 healthy individuals). Serum endocan levels in all participants' blood samples were measured. The average age of the individuals was 61.76 ± 16.39 years. There was a significant difference in the serum endocan levels between the patients and those of the control group [321.93 ng/l (111.35-2511.33) and 192.77 ng/l (118.30-309.02), respectively; P < 0.030]. The serum endocan levels in the submassive [469.41 ng/l (258.13-800.54)] and the massive PTE groups [719.18 ng/l (319.84-2511.33)] were statistically higher than those in the control group [192.77 ng/l (118.30-309.02)] (P < 0.001 and P < 0.001, respectively). In addition, there was a statistically significant difference between the serum endocan levels of the nonmassive PTE group [188.57 ng/l (111.35-685.56)] and the submassive PTE group (P < 0.01). The serum endocan levels correlated with the international normalization ratio (INR), right ventricular dilatation (RVD) and SBP (r = 0.418, P = 0.004; r = 0.659, P < 0.001; r = -0.425, P = 0.003, respectively). In conclusion, serum endocan levels can be considered a practicable biomarker to determine the severity of PTEs and follow-up thrombolytic therapy.

Endocan and the respiratory system: a review

“…Finally, in a study of patients admitted with pulmonary thromboembolism (PTE), endocan levels demonstrated a significant difference not only between patients and controls but also between the patients’ clinical subclasses according to right ventricular dilatation 75. Endocan clearly showed a positive correlation with the latter and was significantly higher in the submassive and massive PTE cases than in the non-massive ones.…”

Subclinical Atherosclerosis in Patients with Prior Pulmonary Thromboembolism

“…A previous study showed that the receptor for advanced glycation end products (RAGE) pathway had a role in the pathophysiology of chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension [7] . Another study [8] demonstrated significantly higher levels of endocan, which has been reported to be associated with organ-specific inflammation and endotheliumdependent pathological disorders in patients with diagnosis of PTE when compared to controls. Prior in vitro and ex vivo experiments suggested that pulmonary artery endothelial cells (ECs) in pulmonary hypertensive diseases exhibited an unusual hyperproliferative potential with decreased susceptibility to apoptosis, indicating that dysfunctional ECs may contribute to the progression of the diseases [9] .…”

“…In a previous study, Guzel et al [8] suggested that the serum endocan level, which has been reported to be associated with organ-specific inflammation and endothelium-dependent pathological disorders, correlated with RV dilation in PTE patients. When these two findings are considered together, RV dilation may be a marker for increased inflammatory activity and atherosclerotic risk in PTE patients but this conclusion needs to be verified in further studies.…”

Relevance of Endothelial Cell-Specific Molecule 1 (Endocan) Plasma Levels for Predicting Pulmonary Infection after Cardiac Surgery in Chronic Kidney Disease Patients: The Endolung Pilot Study

“…However, a previous study on CKD patients indicated that endocan maintains a good diagnostic performance, even in CKD patients [27]. Secondly, our sample size is small (pilot study), even if comparable to those of other studies on endocan [10,11,13]. We randomly selected 15 patients with an uneventful outcome for the purposes of comparison with the 5 patients with infection as we judged this to be a sufficient number for a pilot study.…”

“…Kao et al [12] reported in a recent study that endocan was reliable in evaluating the severity of community-acquired pneumonia. Güzel et al [13] found a correlation between plasma endocan levels and thromboembolism. Endocan has been shown to be correlated with the estimated glomerular filtration rate and, as such, may indicate the stage of chronic kidney disease (CKD) [14].…”