Why the study?
Galectin-3 is linked to tissue fibrosis and inflammation, but its relationship with vascular health is limited.
In older adults, circulating galectin-3 is associated with central arterial stiffness, though this relationship appears to be largely driven by shared traditional cardiovascular risk factors.
Gal-3–stiffness link attenuates after risk-factor adjustment; hypothesis-generating and should not yet change practice.
Summary: Background: Galectin-3 (gal-3) is a β-galactoside-binding lectin associated tissue fibrosis and inflammation. There is limited understanding of the relationship between gal-3 and vascular health. Our aim was to assess the association between gal-3 and arterial stiffness in older adults. Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study of 4275 participants (mean age of 75 years) from the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) Study. Central arterial stiffness was measured by carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity (cfPWV). We evaluated the association of gal-3 with cfPWV using multivariable linear regression. Results: The median (interquartile range) gal-3 concentration was 16.5 (13.8, 19.8) ng/mL and mean cfPWV was 1163±303 cm/s. Higher gal-3 concentration was associated with greater central arterial stiffness after adjustment for age, sex, race-center, heart rate, systolic blood pressure, anti-hypertensive medication use, and current smoking status (β=36.4 cm/s change in cfPWV per log unit change in gal-3; 95% CI: 7.2, 65.5, p=0.015). The association was attenuated after adjusting for additional cardiovascular risk factors (β=17.3, 95% CI: −14.4, 49.0). Conclusions: In community-dwelling older adults, gal-3 concentration was associated with central arterial stiffness, likely sharing common pathways with traditional cardiovascular risk factors.
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Jia et al. (2021) studied this question.
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