Natriuretic peptide-guided treatment for the prevention of cardiovascular events in patients without heart failure

Consideration should be given to smoking, endometriosis, renal function (eGFR) and age when interpreting CA125 and HE4 in ovarian tumor diagnostics

OBJECTIVES

To evaluate the impact of different biologic, histopathologic and lifestyle factors on serum levels of human epididymis protein 4 (HE4) and Cancer antigen 125 (CA125) in the diagnostic work up of women with an ovarian cyst or pelvic tumor.

METHODS

The statistical evaluation was performed on a population of 445 women diagnosed with a benign ovarian disease, included in a large Swedish multicenter trial (ClinicalTrials.gov NCT03193671). Multivariable logistic regression analyses were performed to distinguish between the true negatives and false positives through adjusting for biologic, histopathologic and lifestyle factors on serum samples of CA125 and HE4 separately. The likelihood ratio test was used to determine statistical significance and Benjamini-Hochberg correction to adjust for multiple testing.

RESULTS

A total of 31% of the women had false positive CA125 but only 9% had false positive results of HE4. Smoking (OR 6.62 95% CI 2.93-15.12) and impaired renal function, measured by eGFR (OR 0.18 95% CI 0.08-0.39), were independently predictive of falsely elevated serum levels of HE4. Endometriosis was the only variable predictive of falsely elevated serum levels of CA125 (OR 7.96 95% CI 4.53-14.39). Age correlated with increased serum levels of HE4.

CONCLUSIONS

Smoking, renal failure, age and endometriosis are factors that independently should be considered when assessing serum levels of HE4 and CA125 in women with an ovarian cyst or pelvic mass to avoid false indications of malignant disease.

How should we monitor the cardiovascular benefit of sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 inhibition?

Sodium–glucose cotransporter 2 (SGLT2) inhibitors are increasingly prescribed for the treatment of patients with type 2 diabetes to reduce the risk of cardiovascular events, including heart failure (HF). The mechanisms by which SGLT2 inhibitors reduce such risk are likely to be independent of diabetes status and improvement of glycemic control. In this commentary, based on recent mediation analyses of cardiovascular outcome trials with SGLT2 inhibitors, we discuss the prognostic role of a well-known HF-related biomarker, amino-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP), in patients receiving SGLT2 inhibitors. Interestingly, the NT-proBNP concentration had a relatively small impact on the SGLT2 inhibitor-associated benefit on HF events, suggesting a limited value in measuring NT-proBNP concentrations to monitor effects on cardiovascular outcomes after initiation of SGLT2 inhibitor therapy. Instead, clinical factors, such as body weight and volume status, were prognostic for cardiovascular outcomes. As shown in some biomarker studies, short-term SGLT2 inhibitor treatment significantly improved volume and HF-related health status, despite the absence of a significant change in NT-proBNP concentration. Given the early and continuous risk reduction in HF events seen in the cardiovascular outcome trials with SGLT2 inhibitors, changes in these fundamental clinical parameters after initiation of SGLT2 inhibitor therapy, independent of NT-proBNP, could be more prognostic and could represent key determinants to identify responders or non-responders to SGLT2 inhibitors for cardiovascular outcomes. Thus, this commentary highlights the clinical importance of establishing how clinicians should monitor patients initiating SGLT2 inhibitor therapy to predict the expected cardiovascular benefit. Further detailed investigations and discussion to better understand this ‘‘black box’’ are urgently warranted.