Resumen de Relation between serum cathepsin D levels and endothelial dysfunction in patients with chronic kidney disease

Nihal Ozkayar, Serhan Piskinpasa, Fatma Akyel, Didem Turgut, Mesudiye Bulut, Turan Turhan, Fatih Dede

• We aimed to investigate the role of cathepsin D, an inflam - matory and atherosclerotic mediator, in endothelial dysfunc - tion in chronic kidney disease. The study included 65 patients with stage 2�4 chronic kidney disease (35 females, 30 males;

  mean age, 55.8±15.6 years). Serum creatinine and cathepsin D levels and glomerular filtration rates (GFRs) were deter - mined, and brachial flow-mediated dilation (FMD) percent - age was measured by two-dimensional gray scale and color flow Doppler and vascular imaging. FMD < 6% was consid - ered to indicate endothelial dysfunction. Mean GFR, me - dian creatinine levels, and median cathepsin D levels were 40.2±11.2mL/min/1.73m 2 , 1.7mg/dL, and 819.75ng/mL, re - spectively. Endothelial dysfunction was present in 30 of the 65 patients (46.2%). There was a significant difference between groups with and without endothelial dysfunction in terms of cathepsin D (p=0.001) and creatinine (p=0.03) levels, and negative and significant correlations were found between brachial artery FMD% and cathepsin D (r=-0.359, p=0.003) and creatinine (r=-0.304, p=0.014) levels. Cathepsin D, which is known to be associated with atherosclerosis, may play a role in the process of endothelial dysfunction. Further studies are essential to determine the exact function of cathepsin D in endothelial dysfunction in chronic kidney disease and to determine its value as a tool for early diagnosis and target for treatment of cardiovascular diseases in patients with chronic kidney disease