Elevated Soluble Podoplanin Associates with Hypercoagulability in Patients with Nephrotic Syndrome

Serum Podoplanin Levels as a Potential Biomarker for Diabetic Nephropathy Progression: A Cross-Sectional Study

Objective

The study aimed to investigate the impact of serum Podoplanin levels on diabetic nephropathy in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM).

Patients and methods

Between January 2022 and December 2023, the Department of Nephrology at Nantong Second People's Hospital selected 276 patients with T2DM and 150 healthy controls for this investigation. Systematic data collection was performed to gather information on biomarkers and biochemical parameters.

Results

When T2DM patients (n=276) and healthy controls (n=150) were compared, considerably lowered serum Podoplanin levels were observed. In all 276 patients, serum Podoplanin levels were negatively associated with age (r=-0.127, P=0.035), body mass index (BMI) (r=-0.292, P<0.001), duration of diabetes (r=-0.323, P<0.001), systolic blood pressure (SBP) (r=-0.255, P<0.001), diastolic blood pressure (DBP) (r=-0.138, P=0.022), fasting blood glucose (FBG) (r=-0.196, P=0.001), glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) (r=-0.095, P=0.117), triglyceride (TG) (r=-0.157, P=0.009), total cholesterol (TC) (r=-0.126, P=0.036), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) (r=-0.187, P=0.002), serum creatinine (Scr) (r=-0.500, P<0.001), neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (NGAL) (r=-0.339, P<0.001), and kidney injury molecule-1 (KIM-1) (r=-0.568, P<0.001), and was positively correlated with high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) (r=0.343, P<0.001) and estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) (r=0.442, P<0.001). The multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that diabetic patients with DN had lowered levels of serum Podoplanin (OR=0.022, 95% CI=0.005-0.100; P<0.001), lower SBP, Scr, NGAL, and KIM-1.

Conclusion

The results indicated that diabetic patients with DN have lower levels of serum Podoplanin. A more considerable population-based prospective investigation is essential to validate our findings.

The correlation between anti-phospholipase A2 receptor antibodies and hypercoagulability in patients with idiopathic membranous nephropathy

BACKGROUND

Patients with idiopathic membranous nephropathy (IMN) are more likely to be complicated by venous thromboembolism (VTE). The aim of the study was to investigate the potential association between anti-phospholipase A2 receptor (PLA2R) antibodies and hypercoagulability in patients with IMN.

METHODS

A total of 168 patients with biopsy-proven IMN and 36 patients with biopsy-proven minimal change disease (MCD) were enrolled in this study. The clinical data, serum anti-PLA2R antibodies and coagulation-related indices of the patients were retrospectively analyzed.

RESULTS

Patients with IMN were categorized into glomerular PLA2R staining-positive (GAg+) IMN group and glomerular PLA2R staining-negative (GAg-) IMN group in the study. Patients with IMN who were GAg + had lower PT, APTT and R time than patients with IMN who were GAg-, while the CI value was higher in patients with IMN who were GAg+. Patients with IMN who were GAg + were divided into the SAb+/GAg + group and the SAb-/GAg + group. Patients with IMN who were SAb+/GAg + had higher Fib and MA values than patients with IMN who were SAb-/GAg+. Correlation analysis showed that serum anti-PLA2R antibodies were positively correlated with fibrinogen, D-dimer, K time, CI value, α-angle, and MA value. Multiple linear regression analysis indicated that anti-PLA2R antibodies were independently correlated with fibrinogen and MA value.

CONCLUSION

Our study provides a new perspective on the underlying mechanisms of hypercoagulability in patients with IMN. Anti-PLA2R antibodies are associated with hypercoagulability in patients with IMN and may affect coagulation in patients with IMN by affecting platelet aggregation function and fibrinogen counts.

Platelets, inflammation, and purinergic receptors in chronic kidney disease

Platelets are anucleated cells that circulate in the bloodstream. Historically, platelets were thought to perform a singular function-stop bleeding via clotting. Although platelets do play a key role in hemostasis and thrombosis, recent studies indicate that platelets also modulate inflammation, and this platelet-induced inflammation contributes to the pathophysiology of various diseases such as atherosclerosis and diabetes mellitus. Thus, in recent years, our understanding of platelet function has broadened. In this review, we revisit the classic role of platelets in hemostasis and thrombosis and describe the newly recognized function of platelets in modulating inflammation. We cover the potential use of purinergic receptor antagonists to prevent platelet-modulated inflammation, particularly in patients with chronic kidney disease, and finally, we define key questions that must be addressed to understand how platelet-modulated inflammation contributes to the pathophysiology of chronic kidney disease.

[Urinary protein and renal pathological features in children with immunoglobulin A vasculitis with nephritis and hypercoagulability]

OBJECTIVES

To study the association of hypercoagulability with urinary protein and renal pathological damage in children with immunoglobulin A vasculitis with nephritis (IgAVN).

METHODS

Based on the results of coagulation function, 349 children with IgAVN were divided into a hypercoagulability group consisting of 52 children and a non-hypercoagulability group consisting of 297 children. Urinary protein and renal pathological features were compared between the two groups, and the factors influencing the formation of hypercoagulability in children with IgAVN were analyzed.

RESULTS

Compared with the non-hypercoagulability group, the hypercoagulability group had significantly higher levels of urinary erythrocyte count, 24-hour urinary protein, urinary protein/creatinine, urinary immunoglobulin G/creatinine, and urinary N-acetyl-β-D-glucosaminidase (P<0.05). The hypercoagulability group also had a significantly higher proportion of children with a renal pathological grade of III-IV, diffuse mesangial proliferation, capillary endothelial cell proliferation, or >25% crescent formation (P<0.05). The multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that capillary endothelial cell proliferation and glomerular crescent formation >25% were associated with the formation of hypercoagulability in children with IgAVN (P<0.05).

CONCLUSIONS

The renal injury in IgAVN children with hypercoagulability is more severe, with greater than 25% crescent formation and increased proliferation of glomerular endothelial cells being important contributing factors that exacerbate the hypercoagulable state in IgAVN.

Updates on New Therapies for Patients with CKD

Individuals diagnosed with chronic kidney disease (CKD) continue to increase globally. This group of patients experience a disproportionately higher risk of cardiovascular (CV) events compared to the general population. Despite multiple guidelines-based medical management, patients with CKD continue to experience residual cardiorenal risk. Several potential mechanisms explain this excessive CV risk observed in individuals with CKD. Several new drugs have become available that could potentially transform CKD care, given their efficacy in this patient population. Nevertheless, use of these drugs presents certain benefits and challenges that are often underrecognized by prescribing these drugs. In this review, we aim to provide a brief discussion about CKD pathophysiology, limiting our discussion to recent published studies. We also explore benefits and limitations of newer drugs, including angiotensin receptor/neprilysin inhibitors (ARNI), sodium glucose transporter 2 inhibitors (SGLT2i), glucagon-like peptides-1 (GLP-1) agonists and finerenone in patients with CKD. Despite several articles covering this topic, our review provides an algorithm where subgroups of patients with CKD might benefit the most from such drugs based on the selection criteria of the landmark trials. Patients with CKD who have nephrotic range proteinuria beyond 5000 mg/g, or those with poorly controlled blood pressure (systolic ≥160 mm Hg or diastolic ≥100 mm Hg) remain understudied.

The role of blood podoplanin in patients with viral myocarditis

Podoplanin (PDPN), a small mucin-like glycoprotein, was recently found to promote the generation of cardiac ectopic lymphoid follicles and anti-heart autoantibodies (AHA) in viral myocarditis (VMC) mice. Herein, we investigated the blood PDPN expression and its potential clinical value in VMC patients. Overall, 40 VMC patients were enrolled among 112 hospitalized patients with suspected myocarditis. Their serum PDPN levels were higher than those in controlled acute myocardial infarction (AMI) patients (n = 40) and healthy individuals (n = 30) (both p < 0.01) and positively correlated with CRP, IL-17, and IL-4 (all p < 0.01). Elevation of serum PDPN discriminated VMC from AMI (OR = 4.061, p < 0.01) and PDPN addition to the basic model (age, CRP, and peak cTNI) increased AUC values (from 0.822 to 0.933, p = 0.04). Additionally, the serum levels of PDPN ligand CCL-21 were also increased and correlated with PDPN (R = 0.59, p < 0.01) in VMC patients, accompanied by AHA production. Moreover, the anti-MHC antibody was closely related to PDPN levels (R = 0.53, p < 0.01), and anti-MHC-positive patients with VMC displayed higher percentages of CD4+IL-17A+PDPN+T cells and CD19+CCR7+B cells (both p < 0.05). Noticeably, VMC patients complicated by ventricular arrhythmias (27.50%) presented with AHA production and higher PDPN levels (p < 0.05). Finally, we screened out and verified that miR-182-5p directly targeted PDPN and negatively regulated its expression (all p < 0.01). These data suggested that blood PDPN might be a novel inflammation-associated biomarker for the early diagnosis of VMC and may contribute to AHA production by binding CCL-21 to recruit Th17 and B cells, which were regulated by miR-182-5p.

Super Formula for Diagnosing Disseminated Intravascular Coagulation Using Soluble C-Type Lectin-like Receptor 2

The scoring systems for disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC) criteria require several adequate cutoff values, vary, and are complicated. Accordingly, a simpler and quicker diagnostic method for DIC is needed. Under such circumstances, soluble C-type lectin-like receptor 2 (sCLEC-2) received attention as a biomarker for platelet activation.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

The diagnostic usefulness of sCLEC-2 and several formulas, including sCLEC-2xD-dimer, sCLEC-2/platelet count (sCLEC-2/PLT), and sCLEC-2/PLT × D-dimer (sCLEC-2xD-dimer/PLT), were evaluated among 38 patients with DIC, 39 patients with pre-DIC and 222 patients without DIC or pre-DIC (non-DIC).

RESULTS

Although the plasma level of sCLEC-2 alone was not a strong biomarker for the diagnosis of DIC or pre-DIC, the sCLEC-2xD-dimer/PLT values in patients with DIC were significantly higher than those in patients without DIC, and in a receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis for the diagnosis of DIC, sCLEC-2xD-dimer/PLT showed the highest AUC, sensitivity, and odds ratio. This formula is useful for the diagnosis of both pre-DIC and DIC. sCLEC-2xD-dimer/PLT values were significantly higher in non-survivors than in survivors.

CONCLUSION

The sCLEC-2xD-dimer/PLT formula is simple, easy, and highly useful for the diagnosis of DIC and pre-DIC without the use of a scoring system.