A new study from Michigan Medicine and the Emory Clinical Cardiovascular Research Institute finds that levels of soluble urokinase plasminogen activator receptor, or suPAR, an immune protein known to play a role in kidney disease, are high in patients with heart failure and predict both heart failure and death. Beyond that, when suPAR is combined with BNP, the ability to predict such risks gets even stronger. The findings are published in the Journal of Cardiac Failure.
The research team used the Emory cardiovascular biobank to measure both plasma suPAR and BNP levels in over 3,400 participants undergoing heart imaging, following them for more than six years.
Results reveal that suPAR levels were 17% higher in patients with heart failure than those without across the different subgroups, including patients with ischemic or non-ischemic cardiomyopathy. Levels of the protein carried more than two times risk for all-cause death, cardiovascular death and hospitalization for heart failure.
Additionally, when suPAR was found to be increased in patients without heart failure, they were over 3.5 times more likely to develop the condition.
U of M Health release
