Plasma LCN2 independently predicts CHD-PAH with an AUC of 0.883, showing strong correlation with mPAP and serving as a robust diagnostic biomarker.
Do plasma LCN2 and miR-8078 levels accurately diagnose moderate-to-severe pulmonary arterial hypertension in patients with congenital heart disease?
Plasma LCN2 and miR-8078 are elevated in CHD-PAH and correlate with hemodynamic severity, with LCN2 serving as a robust independent diagnostic biomarker.
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Abstract Objective This study aimed to evaluate the diagnostic value of lipocalin 2 (LCN2) and microRNA-8078 (miR-8078) in congenital heart disease-associated pulmonary arterial hypertension (CHD-PAH). Methods Seventy-six patients were diagnosed with CHD-PAH according to established clinical guidelines (including mean pulmonary arterial pressure (mPAP), pulmonary artery wedge pressure, and pulmonary vascular resistance) via right heart catheterization. Based on their mPAP, they were stratified into non-PAH (mPAP 25 mmHg; n=28), mild PAH (25 ≤ mPAP 35 mmHg; n=21), and moderate-to-severe PAH (mPAP ≥ 35 mmHg; n=27) groups. Plasma LCN2 levels and miR-8078 expression were quantified using ELISA and RT-qPCR, respectively. The diagnostic value was analyzed using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves. Correlation analysis assessed associations between biomarkers and hemodynamic parameters. Multivariate logistic regression identified independent predictors of CHD-PAH. Results Plasma LCN2 (135.1 40.2 vs. 67.7 17.7 ng/mL; p 0.05) and relative miR-8078 expression (4.2±1.1 vs. 2.3±1.3 fold; p 0.05) were significantly elevated in the moderate-to-severe PAH group compared to the non-PAH group. Both markers showed positive correlations with mPAP (LCN2: r = 0.691, P 0.001; miR-8078: r = 0.481, P 0.001) and pulmonary artery systolic pressure (PASP) (LCN2: r = 0.579, P 0.001; miR-8078: r = 0.391, P 0.001). Notably, LCN2 levels positively correlated with miR-8078 expression (r = 0.407, p 0.001). For diagnosing moderate-to-severe PAH, the area under the curve (AUC) was 0.883 for LCN2 and 0.749 for miR-8078. The combined model yielded a numerically higher AUC of 0.896, but did not significantly differ from LCN2 alone. Univariate regression analysis identified both LCN2 and miR-8078 as significant predictors of CHD-PAH. LCN2 was identified as an independent risk factor for CHD-PAH. Conclusion Plasma LCN2 and miR-8078 are significantly elevated in patients with CHD-PAH and correlate positively with hemodynamic severity. LCN2, in particular, serves as a robust independent biomarker for the diagnosis and severity assessment of CHD-PAH. Consequently, LCN2 and miR-8078 hold promise as potential non-invasive biomarkers for the diagnosis and severity assessment of CHD-PAH.
Chen et al. (Sat,) reported a other. Plasma LCN2 independently predicts CHD-PAH with an AUC of 0.883, showing strong correlation with mPAP and serving as a robust diagnostic biomarker.