Soluble E-selectin is an inverse and independent predictor of left ventricular wall thickness in end-stage renal disease patients

Background: E-selectin is a specific endothelial cell product involved in leukocyte recruitment on the endothelium, which is an important early step in the reparative process following vascular damage. In end-stage renal disease (ESRD), the relationship of E-selectin with left ventricular function has been so far neglected. Methods: We studied 237 patients on chronic dialysis (200 on hemodialysis, 37 on continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis) for at least 6 months, without clinical evidence of heart failure. On a midweek non-dialysis day, fasting blood sampling and echocardiography were performed. Results: Left ventricular mass index (LVMI, corrected for height) was inversely related to E-selectin levels, increasing from 56.8 8 18.9 (175th percentile E-selectin tertile) to 66.7 8 20.1 g/m^2.7 (!50th percentile E-selectin tertile) (p = 0.002). However, in multiple regression models, including traditional (age, sex, smoking, diabetes, systolic blood pressure, hemoglobin, albumin, previous cardiovascular events) and emerging (asymmetric dimethylarginine, interleukin-6) risk factors associated with ESRD, soluble E-selectin has proved to be a significant inverse and independent predictor of mean wall thickness, but not of LVMI. Conclusion: This study demonstrates that soluble E-selectin is inversely associated with the muscular component of the left ventricle, thereby suggesting that the lack of such a reparative factor may be associated with cardiac remodeling in ESRD patients.