Clinical significance of n-terminal fragment of natriuretic peptide in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus who do not receive pathogenetic therapy

Objective: to determine the level of the N-terminal fragment of brain natriuretic peptide progenitor (NT-proBNP) in patients with systemic lupus erythematous (SLE) prior to immunosuppressive therapy and its possible association with inflammatory markers, traditional risk factors (TRFs) for cardiovascular diseases (CVD), and transthoracic echocardiographic (EchoCG) parameters. Subjects and methods. The investigation enrolled 28 SLE patients fulfilled the 1997 ACR criteria, including 23 (82%) women (median age, 28.5 [25.0; 32.0] years), who had no clinical signs of CVD and received no immunosuppressive therapy. A control group consisted of 27 age-and sex-matched healthy donors. Disease activity was assessed by SLEDAI-2K; irreversible damages were measured using SLICC. The median duration of SLE was 21.0 [5.0; 60.0] 376 Научно-практическая ревматология. 2017;55(4):376-381 Ор игинальные иссле до в а н и я months, the scores of SLEDAI-2K and SLICC/DI were 11 [8; 19] and 0 [0; 0], respectively. The investigators estimated the concentration of C-reactive protein (CRP), interleukin-6 (IL-6), and tumor necrosis factor-а (TNF-а), carried out EchoCG, and assessed TRFs. The serum concentration of NT-proBNP was determined by electrochemiluminescence (Roche Diagnostics, Switzerland). The normal range for NT-proBNP was 125.0 pg/ml; 2) 10 (36%) patients had no more than this level. As compared with Group 2, Group 1 had the elevated values of IgG anti-cardiolipin (aCL) antibodies (p 125.0 pg/ml). The higher level of NT-proBNP is associated with the immunological parameters of SLE activity (elevated values of IgG aCL, anti-dsDNA, and ANA as well as C4 hypocomplementemia) and with the markers that reflect deterioration in renal and myocardial functions. There was no relationship of NT-proBNP levels to the clinical manifestations of SLE and the markers of inflammation (CRP, IL-6, and TNF-а) and TRFs.