Rosenberg M et al. (2008) Osteopontin, a new prognostic biomarker in patients with chronic heart failure. Circ Heart Fail 1: 43–49

Clinical studies have shown that osteopontin expression is increased in patients with cardiovascular disease. Rosenberg et al. analyzed plasma samples from 420 patients with chronic heart failure (267 patients with dilated cardiomyopathy and 153 patients with ischemic cardiomyopathy) and 43 healthy controls. They found that osteopontin levels correlate with severity of heart failure and can predict prognosis.

Patients with heart failure had increased plasma osteopontin levels compared with healthy controls (532 ng/ml vs 382 ng/ml, P = 0.008); levels were not affected by disease type or the patient's sex. Osteopontin levels were significantly lower in patients with no or mild (NYHA class I or II) symptoms than in those with moderate to severe (NYHA class III or IV) symptoms (479 ng/ml vs 672 ng/ml, P <0.0001). The median survival of patients with osteopontin levels >929 ng/ml (a cutoff value derived from receiver operating characteristic curve analysis) was 34 months, whereas that of patients with levels of osteopontin below this limit exceeded 48 months (the duration of follow-up in this study). Levels of osteopontin, N-terminal brain natriuretic propeptide and serum creatinine, as well as NYHA symptom class, were found to be independent predictors of 4-year mortality in patients with heart failure. Cox proportional hazards regression analysis indicated that osteopontin levels provided additional prognostic information to that provided by N-terminal brain natriuretic propeptide levels.

The authors conclude that osteopontin could be used as a biomarker to aid prediction of prognosis in patients with heart failure.