Apolipoprotein M Improves Survival in Congestive Heart Failure via Enhanced Akt Signaling

LncRNA-TUG1 Downregulation is Correlated with the Development of Progressive Chronic Kidney Disease Among Patients with Congestive Heart Failure

TUG1 is an lncRNA that plays a critical role in kidney injury. Our preliminary sequencing analysis showed altered TUG1 expression in both congestive heart failure (CHF) patients and CHF patients complicated with chronic kidney disease (CKD). We then studied the role of TUG1 in these two diseases. We enrolled 120 CHF patients without obvious complications, 60 CHF patients complicated with CKD, and 60 healthy volunteers. TUG1 expression in plasma samples from these participants was determined using RT-qPCR. The diagnostic value of TUG1 for CKD development in CHF patients was evaluated by ROC curve analysis. A 2-year follow-up was performed to detect the correlation between TUG1 expression levels and the development of CKD in CHF. TUG1 was lowly expressed in CHF patients and was further downregulated in CHF patients complicated with progressive CKD. ROC curve analysis showed that plasma TUG1 expression levels could be used to distinguish CHF patients complicated with CKD from CHF patients without CKD and healthy controls. During the 2-year follow-up, high CHF expression levels predicted a low incidence of progressive CKD among CHF patients. With the treatment of progressive CHF + CKD, plasma TUG1 was upregulated. LncRNA-TUG1 downregulation may develop the progressive CKD among patients with CHF.

Novel biomarkers in cats with congestive heart failure due to primary cardiomyopathy

The pathogenesis of feline cardiomyopathy and congestive heart failure (CHF) requires further understanding. In this study, we assessed serum proteome change in feline CHF, aiming to identify novel biomarker for both research and clinical use. The study comprised 15 cats in CHF, 5 cats in preclinical cardiomyopathy and 15 cats as healthy controls. Serum proteome profiles were obtained by tandem mass tag labelling followed by mass spectrometry. Protein concentrations in CHF cats were compared with healthy controls. Western blot was performed for proteomic validation. Correlations were assessed between the altered proteins in CHF and clinical variables in cats with cardiomyopathy to evaluate protein-cardiac association. Bioinformatic analysis was employed to identify pathophysiological pathways involved in feline CHF. Sixteen serum proteins were significantly different between CHF and healthy control cats (P < .05). These included serine protease inhibitors, apolipoproteins and other proteins associated with inflammation and coagulation. Clinical parameters from cats with cardiomyopathy significantly correlated with the altered proteins (P < .05). Bioinformatic analysis identified 13 most relevant functional profiles in feline CHF, which mostly associated with extracellular matrix organization and metabolism. Data are available via ProteomeXchange with identifier PXD017761. SIGNIFICANCE: Cardiomyopathies affect both cats and humans, and they can cause serious consequence such as congestive heart failure (CHF). To date, the pathophysiological mechanism of CHF is not fully understood. In this study, for the first time, we used a proteomic approach combined with bioinformatic analysis to evaluate serum protein change in cats with CHF. Results indicate systemic inflammation, coagulation protein changes, innate immunity and extracellular matrix remodeling are involved in feline CHF, which are largely comparable with findings in previous human studies. Our study provides new insights into CHF and cardiomyopathy in cats, and the identified novel biomarkers and pathophysiological pathways provide valuable information for future studies.