Evaluation of Plasma Catestatin Levels in Patients with Heart Failure

Introduction: Heart failure (HF) is a commonly encountered fatal clinical condition. Catestatin is a peptide produced by the breakdown of chromogranin A and inhibits catecholamine secretion. The main goal of this study is to identify the difference between catestatin levels in patients at without and with different stages of HF. It is important to determine catestatin’s relationship with pro-B-type natriuretic peptide (proBNP) and left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF), that are used to identify HF and as well as other laboratory findings in order to better understand the contribution of catestatin. Materials-Methods: Sixty HF patients with LVEF< %45 and 53 matching control patients of factors that can impact catestatin level were included in the study. Plasma samples of these patients and controls were simultaneously collected in tube containing a drop of aprotinin (proteinase inhibitor). Plasma catestatin levels were measured by using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay method. Results: The study findings showed that catestatin levels of HF patients (45.46±16.69 ng/ml) were significantly higher than that of patients without (37.15±16.36 ng/ml) (t=2.69, p< 0.05) and that the catestatin level increases as the HF stage progresses (J-T=2.19; p< 0.05). Catestatin level is found to be correlated positively with proBNP (r=0.241; p< 0.05), and inversely with LVEF (r=-0.19; p< 0.05). The area under the ROC curve calculated in order to demonstrate catestatin’s diagnostic adequacy in heart failure was 0.635. Discussion: Catestatin is considered an indicator of HF and it seems reasonable to use it for diagnosis and follow-up as it increases with disease severity.