Serum markers of angiogenesis and myocardial ultrasonic tissue characterization in patients with dilated cardiomyopathy

Abstract

Background and aims: It has been proven that a disturbance in angiogenesis contributes to the progression of myocardial interstitial fibrosis in idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM). This study was designed to evaluate the relationship between serum activity of angiogenic factors and myocardial ultrasonic tissue characterization in patients with DCM. Methods and results:We studied 30 patients with DCM and 15 healthy control subjects. Serum levels of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), interleukin (IL)-4 and IL-13 were measured using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. We determined calibrated myocardial integrated backscatter (IB) as the value of myocardial interstitial fibrosis using ultrasonic tissue characterization and also quantified the magnitude of cyclic variations in IB (CV-IB). Serum levels of VEGF and IL-13 were significantly higher in patients with DCM than in control subjects (both Pb0.05). Calibrated IB was significantly higher and CV-IB was markedly lower in patients with DCM than in control subjects (both Pb0.01). In patients with DCM, the levels of IL-13 significantly correlated with calibrated IB (r=0.520, P=0.018). In addition, there was a significant negative correlation between levels of VEGF and CV-IB (r=À0.611, P=0.007). Conclusion: The increase in serum VEGF and IL-13 may be closely related to alterations in myocardial texture in DCM.

Mechanical Stretch and Angiotensin II Increase Interleukin-13 Production and Interleukin-13 Receptor .ALPHA.2 Expression in Rat Neonatal Cardiomyocytes

“…However, our results support the previous findings of Ohtsuka et al They observed that serum IL-13 levels are elevated in DCM and are correlated with echocardiographic left ventricular end diastolic dimension and tissue fibrosis characterized by ultrasound with integrated backscatter. 27 Since integrated back-scatter analysis has a higher ability to assess myocardial fibrosis and myocardial contractility, and it is considered to be correlated with histological findings of myocardial fibrosis in biopsy specimens from patients with DCM, they suggested that serum IL-13 might reflect disease severity in DCM. [28][29][30] Although IL-13 is elevated in patients with heart failure, the source of serum IL-13 has been remained obscure.…”

Effects of chronically increased VEGF‐A on the aging heart

“…Notably, increased cardiac VEGF-A expression has been observed in patients with ischemic cardiomyopathy (6,7). Moreover, serum VEGF-A levels are significantly increased in patients with dilated cardiomyopathy (8). VEGF-A is a major proangiogenic factor that is upregulated in response to hypoxia to improve tissue vascularization and is critically involved in physiologic and pathologic blood vessel formation (9)(10)(11)(12).…”

An Anti-inflammatory Cytokine Interleukin-13: Physiological Role in the Heart and Mechanoelectrical Feedback

“…Plasma IL-13 levels were increased in chronical heart failure patients including ischemic heart disease, valvular heart disease, dilated cardiomyopathy and hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (Nishimura et al, 2007). Moreover, elevated serum IL-13 level in patient with dilated cardiomyopathy is correlated with electrocardiographic left ventricular end diastolic dimension and tissue fibrosis (Ohtsuka et al, 2005). In contrast, serum IL-13 level is reduced in patients with acute myocardial infarction (Jafarzadeh et al, 2009).…”