Biomarkers of Cardiovascular Complications in Chronic Kidney Disease

Identification of new retention solutes associated with cardiovascular (CV) toxicity in Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) patients will help to better understand the pathophysiological mechanisms at stake and to prevent CKD-associated mortality and morbidity. For a molecule to be defined as a toxic retention solute, plasma accumulation in the course of CKD has to be demonstrated but also proof needs to be made that plasma accumulation during CKD is indeed associated with an increased risk of CV complications. Moreover, precise determination of the plasma concentration has to be performed in order to later study in vitro and in vivo the toxic mechanisms involved. Based on previous results of plasma proteome analysis using mass spectrometry, a previous study has selected 10 promising protein candidates. These proteins accumulated in the plasma of patients during CKD progression and are known to be associated with CV events in non-CKD patients. The objective of the present study is now to 1) evaluate the association of the plasma accumulation of the 10 retention solutes with CV complications in CKD patients and 2) determine their plasma concentration using ELISA. One hundred and seventy six patients with advanced CKD will be included and divided in 2 groups: 44 patients with history of CV complications in the past 4 years and 132 patients free of any CV complications.