Our results showed that the serum Gal-3 and NADPH oxidase 4 (Nox4) levels were significantly elevated and correlated in 26 human PAH patients when compared with 14 age- and sex-matched healthy controls.
Some biomarkers play important roles in the endothelial dysfunction of patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH), including nitric oxide (NO), endothelin-1 (ET-1), asymmetric dimethylarginine (ADMA), galectin-3 (Gal-3), B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP), and uric acid (UA).
On Cox regression analysis, galectin-3 was a strong predictor of mortality on both univariate HR=2.09 per tertile (95% CI=1.21, 3.62 per tertile; p-trend=0.008) and multivariate analysis HR=2.19 per tertile (95% CI=1.06, 4.54; p-trend=0.035) after adjusting for age, sex, race, glomerular filtration rate (eGFR), NT-proBNP, medications, and aetiology of PH (PAH vs. HFpEF-PH).