Growth differentiation factor 15 (GDF15) is a strong predictor of cardiovascular events and mortality in individuals with or without cardiovascular diseases.
GDF-15 is not only involved in cancer development, progression, angiogenesis and metastasis, but also controls stress responses, bone formation, hematopoietic development, adipose tissue function and cardiovascular diseases.
Growth differentiation factor 15 (GDF15) is an independent predictor of cardiovascular disease, and increased GDF15 levels have been associated with endothelial dysfunction in selected patients.
The cytokine growth differentiation factor-15 (GDF-15), a member of the TGF beta superfamily, has recently been discovered to play an important role in cardiovascular diseases.
Polymorphisms of the genes encoding CD40 and growth differentiation factor 15 and in the 9p21.3 region in patients with rheumatoid arthritis and cardiovascular disease.
Plasma GDF15 concentrations were measured in 2991 participants in the Framingham Offspring Study who were free of clinically overt CVD (mean age, 59 years; 56% women).
Growth differentiation factor (GDF)-15 belongs to a member of the transforming growth factor-β cytokine superfamily, and elevated GDF-15 concentrations are linked to increased risk of cardiovascular diseases and future adverse cardiac events in apparently healthy elderly women, acute coronary syndrome, and chronic heart failure.
GDF-15 has great potential as a biomarker in cardiovascular diseases, especially for prognosis, and is seen as a myocardial protective cytokine, but the exact mechanism of GDF-15 in cardiovascular diseases remains unknown.
We explored GDF-15 in preeclampsia and in diabetic pregnancies, because these conditions are associated with augmented risk for cardiovascular disease, both in mother and in offspring.
Of these women, we established baseline concentrations of MIC-1 in 257 who subsequently had myocardial infarction, stroke, or died from a cardiovascular event (cases) and in 257 matched for age and smoking status, who did not report cardiovascular disease during 4-year follow-up (controls).