Circulating growth factors and cardiac remodeling in the community: The Framingham Heart Study

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Cardiac and vascular growth factors (GF) may influence myocardial remodeling through cardiac growth and angiogenic effects. We hypothesized that concentrations of circulating GF are associated with cardiac remodeling traits. METHODS: We related blood concentrations of vascular endothelial GF (VEGF), VEGFR-1 (sFlt1), angiopoietin 2 (Ang-2), soluble angiopoietin type-2 receptor (sTie2), hepatocyte GF (HGF), insulin-like GF (IGF)-1, IGF binding protein (IGFBP)-3, and growth differentiation factor-15 (GDF-15) to echocardiographic traits in 3151 Framingham Study participants (mean age 40 years, 55% women). We evaluated the following measures: left ventricular (LV) mass index (LVMi), LV ejection fraction (LVEF), global longitudinal strain (GLS), mitral E/e’, and aortic root diameter (AoR). All biomarker values were sex-standardized. RESULTS: In multivariable-adjusted analyses, higher GDF-15 concentrations were associated with higher log-LVMi (β=0.009 per SD, P =0.01). Similarly, sTie2 concentrations were positively associated with log-E/e’ (β=0.011 per SD, P =0.04). IGF-1 and Ang-2 concentrations were positively and negatively associated with GLS, respectively (β(IGF-1) =0.16 per SD and β(Ang-2) =−0.15 per SD, both P