Galectin-3 as a marker of interstitial atrial remodelling involved in atrial fibrillation

Remodelling in the atria could appear as a result of hypertension, diabetes or ischaemic heart disease. Galectin-3 (Gal-3) is a mediator of profibrotic pathways and a potential biomarker of cardiac remodelling. We prospectively recruited consecutive patients undergoing elective cardiac surgery. Preoperative Gal-3 levels were determined from serum samples, and the presence of fibrosis was assessed from atrial appendage tissue samples obtained during cardiac surgery. We included 100 patients with aortic valve or ischaemic heart diseases and 15 controls with permanent AF. Gal-3 levels were associated with sex, left atrial volume, previous cardiac disease, diabetes mellitus, hypertension, NYHA and NT-proBNP. We observed differences in serum Gal-3 concentrations between patients and controls with permanent AF (p = 0.020). We performed ROC curves related to fibrosis and established a cutoff point for Gal-3 >13.65 ng/ml. Multivariate analyses showed previous cardiac disease, NYHA scale and high Gal-3 to be independent predictors of fibrosis. After adjustment for confounding factors, atrial fibrosis remained the only independent factor for the development of AF (p = 0.022). High Gal-3 serum levels predict fibrosis of the atrial appendage. NYHA scale and previous cardiac disease were also associated with tissue fibrosis in patients undergoing surgery. Atrial fibrosis was the only independent predictor for post-operative AF occurrence in our model after correcting for confounding factors.