Clin Res Cardiol (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00392-022-02002-5
Inflammatory proteomics profiling for prediction of incident atrial fibrillation
C. S. Börschel1, A. Ortega-Alonso2, A. S. Havulinna2, P. Jousilahti2, M. Salmi3, S. Jalkanen3, K. Kuulasmaa2, V. Salomaa2, T. Kempf4, T. Niiranen2, R. Schnabel1, für die Studiengruppe: FINRISK
1Allgemeine und Interventionelle Kardiologie, Universitäres Herz- und Gefäßzentrum Hamburg GmbH, Hamburg; 2Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare, Helsinki, FI; 3Institute of Biomedicine, University of Turku, Turku, FI; 4Kardiologie und Angiologie, Medizinische Hochschule Hannover, Hannover;

Aims-Atrial fibrillation (AF) has emerged as a common condition in older adults. Traditional cardiovascular risk factors only explain about 50% of AF cases. Inflammatory biomarkers may help close this gap as inflammation can alter atrial electrophysiology and structure. The present study aimed to determine a cytokine biomarker profile for this condition in the community using a proteomics approach.

Methods-This study uses cytokine proteomics in 10744 participants of the 1997 and 2002 FINRISK cohort studies, mean age 50.9 years, 51.34% women. Risk models for 46 cytokines were developed to predict incident AF using Cox regressions. In addition, the association of participants’ C-reactive protein (CRP) and N-terminal pro B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) concentrations with incident AF were examined.

Results-Incident AF was observed in 1246 persons, 40.53% of them women. The main analyses, adjusted for participants’ sex and age, suggested that higher concentrations of standardized measures of macrophage inflammatory protein-1β (hazard ratio (HR) 1.106, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.043-1.173, P<0.001), hepatocyte growth factor (HR 1.118, 95% CI 1.052-1.188, P<0.001), CRP (HR 1.17, 95% CI 1.101-1.243, P<0.001), and NT-proBNP (HR 1.576, 95% CI 1.452-1.712, P<0.001) were associated with increased risk of incident AF. In further clinical variable-adjusted models only NT-proBNP remained statistically significant.

Conclusion-Our study confirmed NT-proBNP as a strong predictor for AF. The preliminary associations of circulating inflammatory cytokines observed in unadjusted models became non-significant once correcting for clinical risk factor. The potential role of inflammatory cytokines in the disease mechanism as measured by a proteomics approach remains to be further elucidated.
https://dgk.org/kongress_programme/jt2022/aV1278.html