Galip BUYUKTURAN, Remzi EKICI, Ismail ERTURK, Birol YILDIZ, Ramazan ACAR, Taner OZGURTAS, Fevzi Nuri AYDIN, Kenan SAGLAM
Medical Science and Discovery - 2026;13(7):167-176
Objective: Heart failure (HF) is a common and potentially fatal clinical condition. Catestatin, a peptide derived from chromogranin A (CgA), inhibits catecholamine secretion. This study aimed to evaluate differences in plasma catestatin levels between individuals without HF and patients with HF, and to investigate the relationship between catestatin and established HF markers. Methods: A total of 60 HF patients with left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) <= 45% and 53 control subjects matched for factors that could influence catestatin levels were included. The absence of heart failure in control participants was confirmed by clinical assessment, review of medical records and transthoracic echocardiography. Plasma samples were collected simultaneously in aprotinin-containing tubes to prevent peptide degradation. Plasma catestatin levels were measured using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Results: Catestatin levels were significantly higher in patients with HF (45.46 +/- 16.69 ng/mL) compared with individuals without HF (37.15 +/- 16.36 ng/mL) (t = 2.69, p = 0.008). Catestatin levels increased significantly with advancing NYHA functional class (Jonckheere-Terpstra test: J-T = 2.19; p = 0.029). Catestatin was positively correlated with NT-proBNP (r = 0.241; p = 0.010) and negatively correlated with LVEF (r = -0.19; p = 0.043). Catestatin was lower in patients with left ventricular hypertrophy than in those without, both within the patient group (41.39 +/- 16.69 versus 49.64 +/- 15.09 ng/mL; p = 0.04) and across the whole study population (37.41 +/- 16.22 versus 44.04 +/- 15.48 ng/mL; p = 0.03). The area under the ROC curve for catestatin in HF diagnosis was 0.635. Conclusion: Catestatin levels are associated with the presence and severity of heart failure. Its correlation with established parameters of severity and its progressive increase across NYHA functional classes indicate that catestatin may have value as a complementary neurohumoral marker in heart failure. Because the design was cross-sectional, no inference can be drawn regarding prognostic utility, and prospective evaluation is required.
