The aim of this study was to investigate the association between serum albumin to serum creatinine ratio (sACR) and the prognosis of heart failure (HF). In this single‐center prospective cohort study, a total of 2625 patients with HF were enrolled between March 2012 and June 2017. All patients were divided into three groups according to the tertiles of sACR. Of 2625 patients, the mean age was 57.0 ± 14.3 years. During a median follow‐up time of 23 months, 666 end point events occurred. Prognosis analysis indicated that the lowest sACR was significantly associated with higher mortality risk of HF (hazard ratio [HR] = 1.920, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.585–2.326, p < 0.001) when compared with the highest tertile. After adjusting for covariates including age, gender, diabetes, systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure, heart rate, total cholesterol, triglycerides, HDL‐C, LDL‐C, white blood cell count, hemoglobin, glycosylated hemoglobin, and β‐blocker use, the HRs for mortality risk of HF was 1.513 (95% CI = 1.070–2.139, p = 0.019). Subgroup analysis indicated that the mortality risk of HF statistically significantly reduced with the rise in sACR in patients with no β‐blocker use, patients with serum creatine less than 97 μmol/L. However, stratification by age, sex, history of hypertension, diabetes, and smoking, level of glycosylated hemoglobin, and albumin have no obvious effect on the association between sACR and the prognosis of HF. Additionally, patients with lower sACR displayed reduced left ventricular ejection fraction and increased left ventricular end‐diastolic diameter. The discriminant power of sACR alone and in combination with age, gender, SBP, heart rate, and glycosylated hemoglobin were excellent with C statistic of 0.655 and 0.889, respectively. Lower sACR was an independent risk factor for mortality risk of HF.

Aims: Apolipoproteins have been reported to be involved in many cardiovascular diseases. The aim of our study was to investigate the prognostic value of apolipoprotein B (ApoB) to apolipoprotein A-I (ApoA-I) ratio (ApoB/ApoA-I) in patients with heart failure (HF). Methods and results: We randomly assigned 2400 HF patients into the training cohort (n = 1400) and the validation cohort (n = 1000). Using a receiver operating characteristic curve, we identified the optimal cut-off value of the ApoB/ApoA-I in the training cohort as 0.69, which was further validated in the validation cohort. A propensity score matching (PSM) analysis was conducted to eliminate the imbalance in the baseline characteristics of the high and low ApoB/ApoA-I group. A total of 2242 HF patients were generated in the PSM cohort. We also validated our results with an independent cohort (n = 838). Univariate and multivariate analyses were conducted to explore the independent prognostic value of ApoB/ApoA-I in the training cohort (n = 1400), the validation cohort (n = 1000), the PSM cohort (n = 2242), and the independent cohort (n = 838). Patients with high ApoB/ApoA-I ratio had significantly poorer prognosis compared with those with low ApoB/ApoA-I ratio in the training cohort, the validation cohort, the PSM cohort, and the independent cohort (P < 0.05). Multivariate analysis indicated that the ApoB/ApoA-I was an independent prognostic factor for HF in the training cohort [hazard ratio (HR) = 1.637, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.201–2.231, P = 0.002], the validation cohort (HR = 1.54, 95% CI = 1.051–2.257, P = 0.027), the PSM cohort (HR = 1.645, 95% CI = 1.273–2.125, P < 0.001), and the independent cohort (HR = 1.987, 95% CI = 1.251–3.155, P = 0.004). Conclusions: Serum ApoB/ApoA-I ratio is an independent predictor for the prognosis of HF patients.

Aims: Dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) belongs to the common types of cardiomyopathies. The pathogenesis remains unclear despite the fact that various genes have been found associated with DCM. MMP2 is a zinc-dependent and calcium-containing secreted endoproteinases, which could cleave a broad spectrum of substrates including extracellular matrix components and cytokines. It has proved to play an important role in the cardiovascular diseases. This study aimed to investigate the potential role of MMP2 gene polymorphisms in DCM susceptibility and prognosis in a Chinese Han population. Methods and results: A total of 600 idiopathic DCM patients and 700 healthy controls were enrolled. Patients with contact information were followed up for a median period of 28 months. Three tagged single nucleotide polymorphisms (rs243865, rs2285052, and rs2285053) in the promoter of MMP2 gene were genotyped. A series of function analysis were conducted to illuminate the underlying mechanism. The frequency of rs243865-C allele was increased in DCM patients when compared with healthy controls (P = 0.001). Genotypic frequencies of rs243865 were associated with the susceptibility of DCM in the codominant, dominant, and overdominant models (P < 0.05). Besides, rs243865-C allele presented a correlation with the poor prognosis of DCM patients in both dominant (HR = 2.0, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.14–3.57, P = 0.017) and additive (HR = 1.85, 95% CI = 1.09–3.13, P = 0.02) model. The statistical significance remained after adjustment for sex, age, hypertension, diabetes, hyperlipidaemia, and smoking status. There were significant differences in left ventricular end-diastolic diameter and left ventricular ejection fraction between rs243865-CC and CT genotypes. Functional analysis indicated that rs243865-C allele increased luciferase activity and the mRNA expression level of MMP2 by facilitating ZNF354C binding. Conclusions: Our study suggested that MMP2 gene polymorphisms were associated with DCM susceptibility and prognosis in the Chinese Han population.

Background: Several investigations have demonstrated the association of MTSS1 with left ventricular (LV) structure and function. A recently published study has even revealed that rs35006907 was associated with both MTSS1 expression and the risk of dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM). Objective: Our study intended to investigate the relationship between rs35006907 and the risk of DCM in the Han Chinese population. Methods: A total of 529 DCM and 600 healthy controls were recruited. We conducted genotyping for rs35006907 in all participants. Gene association studies were performed to assess the association between rs35006907 and the risk of DCM. A series of functional assays including western blot, realtime PCR and firefly luciferase reporter gene assays were conducted to illuminate the underlying mechanism. Results: We found that rs35006907-A allele was significantly associated with reduced risk of DCM in additive (p= 0.004; OR=0.78; 95% CI=0.66–0.93) and recessive models (p= 0.0005; OR=0.56; 95%CI=0.41–0.78) when compared with the rs35006907-C allele. There were significant differences in the left ventricular end-diastolic diameter (LVEDD) and left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) between rs35006907-CC/AC and AA genotypes. Furthermore, the variant rs35006907-A allele presented lower reporter gene activity, reduced mRNA and protein expression levels when compared with the C allele. Conclusions: Our findings demonstrated that rs35006907-C allele increased the risk of DCM in Han Chinese population. Besides, rs35006907-C displayed higher reporter gene activity and increased MTSS1 expression in human samples.

Background: The triglyceride–glucose (TyG) index has been confirmed to be a predictor of cardiovascular diseases. The present study aimed to assess the predictive value of TyG index for left ventricular aneurysm (LVA) formation and prognosis in patients with acute ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) who underwent primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI).Methods: This prospective study included 991 patients with acute STEMI who underwent primary PCI. Multivariable logistic regression and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis were used to assess the predictive value of TyG index for LVA formation. Prognosis analysis was performed with cox proportional hazard regression.Results: The prevalence of LVA was 14.4%. A higher TyG index was associated with a greater incidence of LVA (23.1% vs. 11.8%, P< 0.001). The TyG index was also higher in the LVA group than in the non-LVA group (9.4 ± 0.9 vs. 9.0 ± 0.8, P<0.001). Multivariable logistic regression analysis revealed that the TyG index was independently associated with the risk of LVA [odds ratio (OR)= 2.4, 95% confidence interval (CI)= 1.51-3.82, P< 0.001]. The predictive value of the TyG index remained significant even after cross-validation by dividing the study population into a training set (OR= 2.32, 95% CI= 1.24-4.35, P= 0.009) and validation set (OR= 3.19, 95% CI= 1.42-7.19, P= 0.005). Higher TyG index was correlated with increased risk of cardiac death (HR= 2.17, P= 0.04). The maximal length and width of LVA were significantly increased in patients with TyG index ≥ 9.68 compared with < 9.68 (P< 0.001). The discriminant power of TyG index for LVA was 0.742, which was superior to both triglyceride (C statistic= 0.666) and fasting blood glucose (C statistic= 0.613). The combination of TyG index, left ventricular ejection fraction, gensini score, and left anterior descending artery as the culprit vessel could significantly improve the predictive ability (C statistic= 0.908).Conclusions: A higher TyG index was an independent predictor for LVA formation and increased risk of cardiac death in patients with STEMI who underwent primary PCI.