Evaluation of Galectin-3 as a Novel Biomarker for Chagas Cardiomyopathy

OBJECTIVES: Chagas cardiomyopathy has worse long-term outcomes than other cardiomyopathies. A biomarker strategy to refer subjects for noninvasive cardiac imaging may help in the early identification of cardiac damage in subjects with Chagas disease. Galectin-3 (Gal-3) is a mediator of cardiac fibrosis shown to be upregulated in animal models of decompensated heart failure. Here we assessed the correlation of Gal-3 with myocardial fibrosis in patients with Chagas disease. METHODS: This study comprised 61 subjects with Chagas disease. All subjects underwent clinical assessments, Doppler echocardiography and magnetic resonance imaging. Plasmatic Gal-3 was determined by ELISA. RESULTS: Delayed enhancement (DE) was identified in 37 of 61 subjects (64%). The total amount of myocardial fibrosis was 9.4% [interquartile interval (IQI): 2.4-18.4]. No differences were observed in Gal-3 concentration according to the presence or absence of myocardial fibrosis, with a median Gal-3 concentration of 11.7 ng/ml (IQI: 9.4-15) in subjects with DE versus 12.9 ng/ml (IQI: 9.2-14) in subjects without DE (p = 0.18). No correlation was found between myocardial fibrosis and Gal-3 concentration (r = 0.098; p = 0.47). CONCLUSIONS: There is no correlation between the degree of myocardial fibrosis and the concentration of Gal-3 in subjects with Chagas disease.