Abstract
Background Heart failure is a complex cardiovascular disease with a variety of etiologies and
heterogeneity. The N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) value has
limited usefulness in diagnosing heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF).
Aim The aim of the present study is to evaluate serum Galectin-3 as a diagnostic biomarker
in patients with HFpEF and to compare Galectin-3 with NT-proBNP levels.
Materials and Methods A cross-sectional case–control study including 63 cases of heart failure with ejection
fraction ≥50% confirmed by echocardiography. NT-proBNP levels in serum were measured
by electrochemiluminescence immunoassay and Galectin-3 levels in serum were measured
by using an enzyme-linked-immunosorbent serologic assay kit.
Results The median levels of serum Galectin-3 and NT-proBNP in patients were significantly
higher than those of controls (26.59 vs. 5.27 and 927 vs. 49.3, p < 0.0001). A positive correlation was observed between serum levels of Galection-3
and NT-ProBNP (r: 0.21, p = 0.048). At cut-off values of 10.1 ng/mL and 160 pg/mL, serum Galectin-3 has 77.78%
sensitivity, 95% specificity with an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.93, and serum
NT-proBNP has 71.43% sensitivity, 100% specificity with an AUC of 0.87, respectively,
for diagnosing HFpEF. The comparison of receiver operating characteristics curves
showed that Galectin-3 has better AUC compared with NT-proBNP in diagnosing HFpEF.
Serum Galectin-3 showed a positive correlation with NT-proBNP and lipid parameters.
Conclusion Galectin-3 with higher sensitivity and AUC can be used as a valuable biomarker for
the diagnosis of HFpEF. Simultaneous testing of both Galectin-3 and NT-proBNP can
further improve the detection of patients with HFpEF.
Keywords
sensitivity - Galectin-3 - Heart failure - NT-proBNP - preserved ejection fraction
