Evaluation of New Cardiac Damage Biomarkers in Polytrauma: GDF-15, HFABP and uPAR for Predicting Patient Outcomes

• Published in: Journal of clinical medicine 2024-02, Vol.13 (4), p.961
• Main Authors: Ritter, Aileen, Lötterle, Lorenz, Han, Jiaoyan, Kalbitz, Miriam, Henrich, Dirk, Marzi, Ingo, Leppik, Liudmila, Weber, Birte
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Analysis; Biological markers; Biomarkers; Cardiovascular disease; Care and treatment; Cell death; Children; Coronary vessels; Decision-making; Emergency medical care; Health aspects; Heart attacks; Heart failure; Injuries; Medical research; MicroRNAs; Mortality; Patient outcomes; Plasma; Process controls; Proteins; Statistical analysis; Trauma; Vein & artery diseases; Wounds and injuries
• ISSN: 2077-0383; 2077-0383
• DOI: 10.3390/jcm13040961

Polytrauma is one of the leading mortality factors in younger patients, and in particular, the presence of cardiac damage correlates with a poor prognosis. Currently, troponin T is the gold standard, although troponin is limited as a biomarker. Therefore, there is a need for new biomarkers of cardiac damage early after trauma. Polytraumatized patients (ISS ≥ 16) were divided into two groups: those with cardiac damage (troponin T > 50 pg/mL, n = 37) and those without cardiac damage (troponin T < 12 pg/mL, n = 32) on admission to the hospital. Patients' plasma was collected in the emergency room 24 h after trauma, and plasma from healthy volunteers (n = 10) was sampled. The plasma was analyzed for the expression of HFABP, GDF-15 and uPAR proteins, as well as miR-21, miR-29, miR-34, miR-122, miR-125b, miR-133, miR-194, miR-204, and miR-155. Results were correlated with patients' outcomes. HFABP, uPAR, and GDF-15 were increased in polytraumatized patients with cardiac damage ( < 0.001) with a need for catecholamines. HFABP was increased in non-survivors. Analysis of systemic miRNA concentrations showed a significant increase in miR-133 ( < 0.01) and miR-21 ( < 0.05) in patients with cardiac damage. All tested plasma proteins, miR-133, and miR-21 were found to reflect the cardiac damage in polytrauma patients. GDF-15 and HFABP were shown to strongly correlate with patients' outcomes.