The association between plasma furin and cardiovascular events after acute myocardial infarction

Abstract

Background: Furin is the key enzyme to cleave pro-BNP and plays a critical role in the cardiovascular system through its involvement in the lipid metabolism, blood pressure and formation of atheromatous plaques. NT-proBNP and recently corin, which is also a key enzyme to cleave pro-BNP, have been approved as predictors of prognosis after acute myocardial infarction (AMI). We here conducted this cohort study to investigate the relationship between plasma furin and the prognosis outcome in patients after AMI. Methods: We enrolled 1100 AMI patients and measured their plasma furin concentration. The primary endpoint was the major adverse cardiac events (MACE), a composite of cardiovascular (CV) death, non-fatal myocardial infarction or non-fatal stroke. The association of plasma furin concentration with AMI outcomes was explored by using Kaplan–Meier curve and multivariate Cox regression analysis. Results: Our results showed that slight increase of mean cTNT in patients with higher furin concentration (P=0.016). Over a median follow-up of 31 months, multivariate Cox regression analysis suggested that plasma furin was not associated with MACE (HR: 1.01; 95% CI: 0.93-1.06; P=0.807) after adjustment for potential conventional risk factors. However, plasma furin was associated with non-fatal MI (HR: 1.09; 95% CI: 1.01-1.17; P=0.022) after fully adjustment. Subgroup analysis indicated no relationship between plasma furin and MACE in different subgroup populations.Conclusions: Our study demonstrated that plasma furin was not associated with risk of MACE and may not be used as a predictor of poor prognosis after AMI. But higher levels of plasma furin may be associated with higher risk of non-fatal MI.