ABSTRACT
Objective To explore possible associations between osteopontin(OPN) and intact parathyroid hormone(iPTH),to investigate effects of them on the progression of carotid artery calcification in patients receiving long-term hemodialysis.Methods Forty-eight maintenance hemodialysis (MHD) patients and 28 age-and sex-matched healthy volunteers were recruited.The concentration of OPN in peripheral blood was determined by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA).Levels of iPTH and presence of plaques in the common carotid arteries were also measured.The demographics were recorded.Results Compared with controls,levels of OPN[(137.4±80.8) ng/L vs (31.6±6.7) ng/L,P ＜ 0.01] and iPTH[(456.4±326.4) ng/L vs (66.9±19.3) ng/L,P ＜ 0.01] were higher in MHD patients before hemodialysis,the numbers of calcific plaques in the common carotid arteries were increased in MHD patients (P ＜ 0.01).There was a positive correlation between pre-dialysis OPN levels and iPTH levels (r =0.620,P ＜ 0.01) in MHD patients.Higher levels of OPN and iPTH correlated with greater numbers of calcific plaques in the common carotid arteries after division into three subgroups of MHD patients based on calcific plaques.In multiple linear regression analysis,the correlation between the pre-dialysis OPN and iPTH levels remained the same even if adjusting for confounding effects[β =0.468,95％C1 (0.036,0.195),t =2.936,P =0.005].Conclusion OPN level is positively correlated with iPTH level in hemodialysis patients,which suggesting that both of them play important roles in the progression of carotid artery calcification.
ABSTRACT
Objective To explore the association between circulating endothelial cells (CECs)and atherosclerosis in maintenance hemodialysis(MHD)patients. Methods A crosssectional study was performed to investigate the association between CECs and carotid atherosclerotic change in 65 MHD patients,25 non-hemodialysis patients with chronic kidney disease(CKD)of stage 4 or 5(CKD-non-HD)and 24 age-and Sex-matched healthy controls. CECs in peripheral blood were determined by multiparametrie flow cytometry(FCM).CECs were labeled with CD3-PerCP and CD146-PE before FCM and identified as CD3dim,CD146bright.Atherosclerosis in both groups Was assessed by the measurement of common carotid arery intimamedia thickness (CCA-IMT)and plaque of the common carotid arteries with ultrasound scanner. Results CECs were significantly higher in pre-dialysis patients[(151.52±98.24) cell/ml]and CKD-non-HD patients[(183.00±81.38)cell/ml ] compared with control group[(106.50± 24.14)cell/ml](P<0.05 and P<0.01,respectively).But the number of CECs was not significantly different between MHD and CKD-non-HD patients.CCA-IMT was also significantly higher in MHD patients[(0.94±0.36)mm]and CKD-non-HD patients [(1.02±0.37)mml compared with control group[(0.75±0.15)mm](P<0.05 and P<0.01,respectively).The number of pre-dialysis CECs was positively correlated with CCA-IMT in MHD patients(r=0.328,P<0.01).Multivariate analysis showed that CEC level was a strong independent risk factor of CCA-IMT. Conclusion InMHD patients, CEC level is associated with carotid atherosclerosis and may be used as a marker to evaluate the endothelial damage.