Intra-cardiac and peripheral levels of biochemical markers of fibrosis in patients undergoing catheter ablation for atrial fibrillation

Galectin‐3 and risk of atrial fibrillation: A systematic review and meta‐analysis

“…Fourteen studies compared serum concentrations of galectin‐3 between the sinus rhythm group and AF group . Our meta‐analysis shows that the AF group had higher concentrations of galectin‐3 than the sinus rhythm (SR) group (mean difference [MD] = −0.68 ng/mL, 95% CI: −0.92, −0.44, Z = 5.61, P < .00001) (Figure A).…”

“…Among the 38 full‐text articles assessed for eligibility, ten were excluded for the following reasons: One study lacked a control group; one study population was heart failure; four studies lacked available data for further analysis; and four reported duplicate data from studies that later published as full text . Finally, 28 studies involving 10 830 patients were included in our meta‐analysis, with their baseline characteristics shown in Tables and .…”

“…Fourteen studies compared serum concentrations of galectin-3 between the sinus rhythm group and AF group. 26,28,29,[31][32][33]37,40,42,44,46,47,49,50 Our meta-analysis shows that the AF group had higher concentrations of galectin-3 than the sinus rhythm (SR) group (mean difference [MD] = −0.68 ng/mL, 95% CI: −0.92, −0.44, Z = 5.61, P < .00001) ( Figure 2A). Furthermore, we showed that higher galectin-3 levels were associated with a 45% increase in the odds of developing AF (odds ratio [OR] = 1.45, 95% CI: 1.15, 1.83, Z = 3.11, P = .002) ( Figure 2B).…”

Elevated β1-Adrenergic Receptor Autoantibody Levels Increase Atrial Fibrillation Susceptibility by Promoting Atrial Fibrosis

“…Data from patients undergoing cardiac surgery demonstrated that serum PICP levels correlated significantly with the percentage of LA fibrosis from atrial biopsy specimens (Swartz et al, 2012). Nevertheless, other studies failed to verify the correlation between these biomarkers and fibrosis as assessed by LA low-voltage area (Begg et al, 2017). A convincing explanation is that the blood levels of fibrosisrelated biomarkers are susceptible to non-cardiac fibrosis, and systemic fibrosis masks their peripheral levels (Begg et al, 2018).…”

Galectin-3 Induces Atrial Fibrosis by Activating the TGF-β1/Smad Pathway in Patients with Atrial Fibrillation

“…Circulating Gal-3 is a marker of myocardial fibrosis in patients with heart failure [23][24][25][26], and it is associated with liver, kidney, and pulmonary fibrosis [27][28][29]. Circulating Gal-3 is also considered to be a prognostic indicator of catheter ablation therapy [30][31][32][33][34][35], and it can be used as a fibrosis marker for atrial fibrillation [36][37][38][39][40]. These studies suggest that circulating Gal-3 is not only a marker of myocardial fibrosis but also participates in the process of myocardial remodeling.…”