The Relationship between Serum TWEAK Levels and Carotid Intima-media Thickness in Patients with Fabry Disease

• Published in: Saudi journal of kidney diseases and transplantation Vol. 34; no. 5; pp. 406 - 415
• Main Authors: Turkmen, Kultigin, Baloglu, Ismail, Aykut, Talat, Demir, Salih, Altın, Ebru, Akguzel, Zeynep Aybike, Kocabas, Muhammet, Yerlikaya, Fatma Humeyra
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Saudi Arabia Medknow Publications and Media Pvt. Ltd 01-09-2023; Medknow Publications & Media Pvt. Ltd; Wolters Kluwer Medknow Publications
• Subjects: Adult; Apoptosis; Biomarkers - blood; Carotid Artery Diseases - blood; Carotid Artery Diseases - diagnostic imaging; Carotid Artery Diseases - etiology; Carotid Intima-Media Thickness; Case-Control Studies; Chronic kidney failure; Creatinine; Cross-Sectional Studies; Cytokine TWEAK - blood; Development and progression; Diabetic nephropathies; Disease; Fabry Disease - blood; Fabry Disease - complications; Female; Humans; Inflammation; Lupus; Male; Medical research; Medicine, Experimental; Middle Aged; Predictive Value of Tests; Proteinuria - blood; Proteinuria - etiology; Risk Factors; Tumor necrosis factor; Young Adult
• ISSN: 1319-2442; 2320-3838
• DOI: 10.4103/1319-2442.397202

Fabry disease (FD) is associated with inflammation, proteinuria, and chronic kidney disease. Tumor necrosis factor-like weak inducer of apoptosis (TWEAK) plays an important role in inflammation in diabetic nephropathy and lupus nephritis. Since there is a close relationship linking serum TWEAK (sTWEAK), inflammation, and carotid intima-media thickness (CIMT) in various kidney diseases, we aimed to determine the relationship between sTWEAK levels and CIMT in subjects with and without proteinuria in a cross-sectional study involving 15 FD patients (seven females, eight males) and seven healthy controls (four females, three males). There were no differences in age, sex, estimated glomerular filtration rate, and biochemical parameters (serum glucose, albumin, creatinine, uric acid, C-reactive protein (CRP), low-density lipoprotein, and high-density lipoprotein) between FD patients and healthy controls. The spot urine protein-creatinine ratios of healthy controls and FD patients were 90 mg/g and 185 mg/g, respectively (P = 0.022). STWEAK levels were higher in FD patients than in healthy controls (P = 0.007). The CIMT of FD patients and healthy controls was 0.55 ± 0.14 mm and 0.42 ± 0.04 mm, respectively (P = 0.007). STWEAK was positively correlated with CRP and CIMT, and negatively with proteinuria (P = 0.005, P = 0.013, and P = 0.018, respectively). In the multivariate analysis, only sTWEAK was an independent variable of increased CIMT. We demonstrated that sTWEAK and CIMT were increased in FD patients. STWEAK might have a role in the pathogenesis of subclinical atherosclerosis in FD.