Proteomic analysis of heart failure hospitalization among patients with chronic kidney disease: The Heart and Soul Study

BackgroundPatients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) are at increased risk for heart failure (HF). We aimed to investigate differences in proteins associated with HF hospitalizations among patients with and without CKD in the Heart and Soul Study.Methods and resultsWe measured 1068 unique plasma proteins from baseline samples of 974 participants in The Heart and Soul Study who were followed for HF hospitalization over a median of 7 years. We sequentially applied forest regression and Cox survival analyses to select prognostic proteins. Among participants with CKD, four proteins were associated with HF at Bonferroni-level significance (p-4): Angiopoietin-2 (HR[95%CI] 1.45[1.33, 1.59]), Spondin-1 (HR[95%CI] 1.13 [1.06, 1.20]), tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase type 5 (HR[95%CI] 0.65[0.53, 0.78]) and neurogenis locus notch homolog protein 1 (NOTCH1) (HR[95%CI] 0.67[0.55, 0.80]). These associations persisted at pConclusionsThese results suggest that markers of heart failure differ between patients with and without CKD. Further research is needed to validate novel markers in cohorts of patients with CKD and adjudicated HF events.