GDF-15 and neutrophils in patients with heart failure and type 2 diabetes mellitus
Authors: Garganeeva AA , Kuzheleva EA , Fedyunina VA , Aleksandrenko VA 
Published: May 2021

Funding Acknowledgements

Type of funding sources: Public grant(s) – National budget only. Main funding source(s): This study was funded by (subject of fundamental scientific research on a state assignment № АААА-А17-117052310073-6 от 23.05.2017

Introduction. Growth differentiation factor-15 (GDF-15) is a biomarker associated with inflammatory processes in the pathogenesis of chronic heart failure (CHF) which expresses in cardiomyocytes under pathological conditions. The relationship between the level of GDF-15 and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) has also been proven. It is necessary to study GDF-15 in patients with CHF and T2DM.

Aim

To investigate the association between serum GDF-15 levels in patients with CHF of ischemic etiology and the concentration of the main leukocyte fractions depending on presence or absence of T2DM.

Material and methods. The study included 42 patients. The patients were divided into 2 groups. The first group consisted of patients with CHF and T2DM (n = 14). The second group  consisted of patients with CHF without T2DM (n = 28). Determination of GDF-15 concentration was carried out by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (BioVendor, Czech Republic). The absolute concentration of lymphocytes, neutrophils, as well as the ratio of neutrophils to lymphocytes in the blood were analyzed. Statistical analysis was performed using the Statistica software (v.10.0). The data were described as a median and interquartile range, the Mann-Whitney test was used to compare them. The correlation analysis was tested using the Spearman"s correlation coefficient.

Results and discussion. The average level of the GDF-15 in the study groups was comparable: 2389 (2104; 3375) pg/ml and 2309 (2047; 3014) pg/ml in the first and second groups, respectively (p = 0.6). In the general cohort of CHF patients, the GDF-15 concentration was not correlate with the lymphocytes concentration (r = -0.001, p = 0.95), neutrophils (r = -0.14, p = 0.4) and the ratio of neutrophils to lymphocytes (r = -0.12, p = 0.25). At the same time, in the group of patients with T2DM, a significant negative correlation was revealed between the concentration of GDF-15 in the serum and the concentration of neutrophils (r = -0.6, p = 0.022). While both other analyzed parameters did not demonstrate significant correlations with GDF-15 (p &gt; 0.05). In the group of CHF patients without T2DM, no correlations were found between GDF-15 and the studied parameters, including neutrophils (r = 0.02, p = 0.3). Along with this the median of the neutrophils concentration did not vary among groups (3.5 (2.3; 5.3) vs 3.2 (2.7; 4.1) * 109 / l; p = 0.8).

Conclusion

The concentration of the inflammatory marker GDF-15 in the blood of patients with CHF in combination with T2DM correlates with the concentration of neutrophils. In the absence of T2DM, no significant correlations were found between GDF-15 and the main leukocyte fractions. The results obtained indicate the possible prospect of using the GDF-15 biomarker in a cohort of patients with CHF in combination with T2DM.