Galectin-3 is an FDA-cleared blood test available for clinical use in chronic heart failure.
Study Shows Association of Elevated Galectin-3 Levels With Poor Outcomes in End-Stage Renal Disease
Results Presented at American Heart Association’s Scientific Sessions 2011
WALTHAM, Mass., Nov. 17, 2011 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — BG Medicine, Inc. (Nasdaq:BGMD), a company focused on the development and commercialization of novel biomarker-based diagnostics, announced today that results from a study on the role of galectin-3 in patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) were presented at the American Heart Association’s Scientific Sessions 2011 (AHA) meeting in Orlando, Florida on November 16, 2011. Results from this study suggest that galectin-3 may be an independent predictor of adverse outcomes in patients with ESRD, due to the association of galectin-3 with all-cause and infectious mortality, stroke and other cardiovascular events. The data were featured in a presentation entitled, “Galectin-3 and Outcomes in Patients with End-Stage Renal Disease: Data from the German Diabetes and Dialysis Study,” presented by Rudolf de Boer, MD, PhD, Associate Professor of Cardiology at the University of Groningen, the Netherlands. In the study, patients’ galectin-3 levels were measured using the BGM Galectin-3TM test.
The study included 1,168 patients with diabetes undergoing dialysis who participated in the German Diabetes and Dialysis Study. Galectin-3 was measured in baseline blood samples, with a median follow up period of 4 years, during which 617 patients (49%) died. Regression analysis was used to assess the association of galectin-3 with the development of all-cause mortality, sudden cardiac death, death due to heart failure, death due to infection, cardiovascular events, myocardial infarction and stroke.
“Galectin-3 is recognized as a mediator of fibrosis in both cardiac and renal injury models,” said Dr. de Boer. “This study provides additional information supporting our understanding that elevated galectin-3 levels are associated with an increased risk for adverse outcomes generally and, particularly, in patients undergoing dialysis.”
“Heart failure is commonly complicated by declining kidney function with kidney disease markedly contributing to the morbidity and mortality of heart failure patients,” said Pieter Muntendam, MD, President and CEO of BG Medicine. “Although the cardio-renal axis has long been recognized, it is poorly understood, and understanding the role of galectin-3 in the cardio-renal axis may provide new insights in the pathophysiology with the ultimate goal to develop novel treatments that reduce the incidence of kidney disease in patients with heart failure.”
Authors of the study are Rudolf A. de Boer, MD, PhD of the University of Groningen, Groningen, the Netherlands; and Christoph Wanner, MD, Katja Blouin, MSc, Christian Drechsler, MD, of the University of Wurzburg, Wurzburg, Germany. The full presentation, “Galectin-3 and Outcomes in Patients with End-Stage Renal Disease: Data from the German Diabetes and Dialysis Study” is available: http://www.galectin-3.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/aha-slides-1.pdf.
