Parameters of intra-cardiac hemodynamics in women with essential hypertension and heart failure, carriers of different polymorphic variants of the galectin-3 gene (LGALS-3, rs 2274273)

Abstract

Annotation. The study aims to improve the prediction and diagnostics of cardiac remodeling, specifically left ventricular myocardial hypertrophy (LVH) in essential hypertension and the development of chronic heart failure (CHF) in carriers of polymorphic variants of the galectin-3 gene (LGALS-3, rs2274273). 180 postmenopausal women, on average aged 58.51±0.45, residents of the Podillya region of Ukraine, were examined. The main group consisted of 113 women with EH, of which 62 had EH II, and 51 had EH III with CHF II A stage. The control group included 67 women without signs of cardiovascular pathology. General clinical examination, enzyme immunoassay method for determining the level of galectin-3 in blood plasma, genotyping of the LGALS3 gene (rs2274273) using polymerase chain reaction, and ultrasound of the heart were performed. Compliance of the frequency distribution of genotypes in the studied populations to the Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium was checked using the MedCalc Software Ltd. Odds ratio calculator. https://www.medcalc.org/calc/odds_ratio.php and calculated the odds ratio (OR) of developing left ventricular myocardial hypertrophy (LVH) and chronic heart failure (CHF). OR = 1 was considered as no association, OR>1 – as a positive association (increased risk of pathology), and OR<1 – as a negative association (reduced risk of pathology). The results were considered reliable at p<0.05. Statistical processing of the obtained results was performed using the SPSS statistical program package, STATISTICA v. 10.0. The reliability of the difference in percentages of quantitative values between groups was calculated according to the χ2 criterion. In postmenopausal women, residents of the Podillya region of Ukraine, without signs of cardiovascular pathology, the following frequency distribution of galectin-3 gene genotype variants (rs2274273) was found: GA – 49.25%, GG – 40.30%, AA – 10.45%, which corresponds to the Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium. The specified ratio does not reliably differ from that in women with EH of different stages. Therefore, the galectin-3 gene polymorphism (rs2274273) is not associated with the risk of EH: OR =0.88; 95% CI 0.47 – 1.63; z statistic 0.417; χ2 =0.1744, p=0.6763. Analysis of the structural and functional parameters of the myocardium in carriers of the A allele shows more pronounced remodeling of the myocardium with eccentric LVH, a more advanced diastolic dysfunction (DD), and lower left ventricular ejection fraction than in GG homozygotes (LVEF 47.63±0.49% vs. 50.61±0.63%, p<0.05). Therefore, the GG genotype of the galectin-3 gene (rs2274273) is a marker of limited changes in the structure of the myocardium in EH.