Evaluation of salusin-β in paediatric patients with chronic kidney disease or hypertension

Abstract

Purpose

Salusins are newly identified endogenous peptides implicated in the atherosclerotic process. Salusin-β, in particular, is recognized for its proatherogenic role. Given that atherosclerosis can commence in childhood, salusin-β holds promise as a potential biomarker for cardiovascular risk assessment. The objective of our study was to investigate salusin-β levels in children with early stages of chronic kidney disease (CKD) or hypertension (HTN), and compare them to healthy controls. Furthermore, we aimed to evaluate its association with obesity and pulse wave velocity (PWV), the latter being a well-established marker for determining arterial elasticity.

Materials and methods

This cross-sectional study involved 96 paediatric patients, including 46 with CKD and 50 with HTN, as well as 33 healthy controls. Anthropometric measurements, PWV assessments, serum salusin-β values, and basic laboratory investigations were conducted for all participants.

Results

Salusin-β levels were found to be elevated in patients with CKD (p ​= ​0.014), but not in patients with HTN when compared to healthy controls. When correlating salusin-β levels with PWV, a significant but weak correlation was observed (r ​= ​0.211, p ​= ​0.020).

Conclusions

Salusin-β levels were elevated in paediatric patients with CKD. Additionally, salusin-β levels correlated significantly with PWV. Obesity played a smaller role in these correlations, with significant correlations observed only after combining cardiovascular risk factors revealing certain associations between salusin-β levels and some cardiovascular variables, but with inconclusive findings and, in some instances, even contrary to anticipated outcomes.