Is Pentraxin-3 a Stronger Marker of Inflammation than C-Reactive Protein in Chronic Kidney Disease?

OBJECTIVE: Pentraxin-3 (PTX-3) is elevated in uremic patients and related with albuminuria and endothelial dysfunction. We aimed to clarify the relationship of PTX-3 with inflammatory markers (hsCRP and IL-6) in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD).

MATERIAL and METHODS: The study was performed with four groups: hemodialysis (HD) group (23 patients), peritoneal dialysis (PD) group (25 patients), predialysis group (stage-4 CKD, 25 patients) and the healthy control group (18 individuals). GFR was estimated by the MDRD formula. PTX-3, IL6, fibrinogen, hsCRP levels, glucose, urea, creatinine, uric acid, parathyroid hormone, albumin, LDL cholesterol, HDL cholesterol, triglyceride, ferritin, and hemoglobin were studied from the serum and whole blood samples.

RESULTS: PTX-3 levels were highest in the HD group followed by the PD group, pre-dialysis group and control group (3.58±4.29, 2.15±2.75, 1.29±2.36, 0.73±0.96 ng/ml, respectively). IL-6 levels were highest in the PD group followed by the HD, predialysis and control groups. There was no difference between groups regarding hsCRP levels. There was no correlation of PTX-3 with hsCRP, while it was correlated with IL-6. IL-6 was the only determinant of PTX-3 level independent of the study groups and vice versa.

CONCLUSION: Uremic patients have elevated PTX-3 levels and it is strongly correlated with IL-6. PTX-3 may be superior to CRP as an inflammation marker in the uremic population.