Evolution of the slopes of ST2 and galectin-3 during marathon and ultratrail running compared to a control group

Abstract

BackgroundPrevious studies have suggested that exercising may induce cardiac damage. Galectin-3 (Gal-3) and soluble suppression of tumorigenicity 2 (ST2) are very interesting biomarkers for heart failure and myocardial fibrosis. We aimed to compare the kinetics of emerging fibrosis cardiac biomarkers as Gal-3 and ST-2 in endurance runners, and recreational runners before and after a running event represented by a marathon and an ultratrail event.MethodsBlood samples were taken from 19 healthy non-elite marathon runners (42 km), 27 ultratour runners (67 km), and 14 recreational runners who represented the control group (10 km) just before the run (T0), just after (T1) and 3 h after (T2), in order to analyze Gal-3, ST2, hsTnT, NT-proBNP, CKMB and hsCRP. We compared the percentage of evolution and the slopes obtained from T0 to T1 (pT0T1) and from T1 to T2 (pT1T2), between the different groups of runners participating in three different races.ResultsPlasma cardiac biomarker concentrations increased significantly from baseline to immediately post-exercise and most of the time decreased over the subsequent 3-h period. For pT0T1 and pT1T2, the markers Gal-3 and ST2 showed a significant difference between types of run (p < 0.05 and p < 0.0001, respectively). During the recovery time, Gal-3 returned to the baseline values but not ST2 which continued to increase.ConclusionsGal-3 and ST2 are considered as a reflection of cardiac fibrosis and remodeling. The evolution of both was different, particularly after the recovery time. ST2 values exceeding cutoff values at any time.

Intense sport practices and cardiac biomarkers

“…According to our recent study, ST2 was higher at baseline, probably due to the accumulation of exercises, and could be considered a good predictor of cardiac fibrosis development. ST2 levels were higher in the highest length race (64 km) group, especially at the end of the race, than in the marathon group [70]. Contrary to the Gal-3 increase, which seemed to be correlated with the intensity of exercise, the ST2 increase seemed to be more correlated with the duration of exercise than with the intensity.…”

“…Further studies are needed because, as for Gal-3, ST2 is also described as a marker of inflammation in CVD. The large difference from the other biomarkers studied is related to a longer period of high ST2 concentration, even after the recovery time, and could possibly reflect the accumulation of strenuous exercise on the heart [70].…”

“…Contrary to the Gal-3 increase, which seemed to be correlated with the intensity of exercise, the ST2 increase seemed to be more correlated with the duration of exercise than with the intensity. It thus seems that more exercise correlates with a higher ST2 concentration [70]. As data from Bayes-Genis et al indicate that for every 10 ng/ml increase in ST2, there is an approximately 20% increase in event risk [75], these populations could be more at risk.…”

“…Some studies have shown that participating in intense and sustained exercise leads, in the long term, to the formation of cardiac fibroid deposits, which may be involved in cardiac arrhythmias [68,69]. Gal-3 thus appears to be an interesting cardiac biomarker for cardiovascular screening in athletes [70]. Few studies have been conducted on the relationship between Gal-3 and sports.…”

Suppression of tumorigenicity 2 after exercise: a systematic review

“…From title and abstract analysis, ten articles were included, and this set of articles was analyzed by the authors [24,29,[42][43][44][45][46][47][48][49]. Two studies were subsequently excluded, as they lacked ST2 assessment both before and after exercise [46,49].…”