Significance of Apelin-13 for Inflammation and Cardiac Morphology in Peritoneal Dialysis Patients

OBJECTIVE: Apelin-13 is a biomarker that was shown to be related to cardiovascular disease risk in peritoneal dialysis patients. The aim of our study was to investigate the association of serum apelin-13 levels with inflammation, carotid artery intima media thickness (CIMT) and echocardiographic parameters in peritoneal dialysis patients.

MATERIAL and METHODS: 33 patient receiving peritoneal dialysis treatment (15 female) and 27 healthy controls (11 female) were enrolled. CIMT and echocardiographic measurements of all patients and controls were taken. Serum apelin-13 levels were measured by ELISA. Apelin-13, c-reactive protein (CRP), neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR), echocardiographic parameters and CIMT values were compared between patients and controls.

RESULTS: Apelin-13 was lower in the patient group [58 (12-131) ng/L] than in the control group [76 (18-130) ng/L] (p=0.083). CRP, NLR, CIMT were significantly higher in patients than controls (p<0.001). CIMT was 0.8 (0.4-1.5) mm and 0.60 (0.3-0.7) mm in the patients and the controls, respectively. Negative correlations were observed between Apelin-13 and age, ferritin, CRP, NLR and CIMT while positive correlations were found between calcium, ejection fraction (EF) and albumin. There was no correlation between apelin-13 and echocardiographic parameters except EF.

CONCLUSION: Apelin-13 levels tend to be lower in peritoneal dialysis patients, and may be important in the development of inflammation, endothelial dysfunction, and atherosclerosis.