Galectin-3 is an independent predictor of survival in systemic sclerosis

Background: Galectin-3 is a beta-galactoside-binding lectin thatmay be related to tissue sclerosis or aberrant activation of angiogenesis in systemic sclerosis (SSc). The aim of our study was to determine the associations between galectin-3 levels and patient characteristics, as well as to investigate the long term prognostic value of galectin-3 in a large cohort of SSc patients. Methods: 152 patientswith SSc (55 +/- 11 years, 138 female) were included in our follow-up study. Blood samples and clinical data were collected at baseline. Primary and secondary outcomes were all-cause and cardiovascular mortality, respectively. Resultss: Galectin-3 levels showed positive correlation with the grade of left ventricular diastolic function (r - 0.193; p = 0.026), erythrocyte sedimentation rate (r = 0.172; p = 0.036) and serum level of C-reactive protein (r = 0.200; p = 0.015) while negative correlation with diffusing capacity for carbon monoxide (r = -0.228; p = 0.006), in age, gender and BSA adjusted analyses. During the follow-up of 7.2 +/- 2.3 years, 35 SSc patients (23%) died. In multivariate Cox regression analyses adjusted for age, gender, BSA, creatinine and NT-proBNP levels, galectin-3 was an independent predictor both of the all-cause mortality (HR: 2.780, 95% CI: 1.320-5.858, p = 0.007) and cardiovascular mortality (HR: 3.346, 95% CI: 1.118-10.012, p = 0.031). Using receiveroperating characteristic analysis, galectin-3> 10.25 ng/ml was found to be the best predictor of the all-cause mortality. Conclusions: Our results suggest that galectin-3 is an independent predictor of all-cause and cardiovascular mortality in SSc. Validation studies are required to establish whether galectin-3 may be proposed as simple biomarker for identifying patients with high mortality risk in SSc. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.