Introduction: Compared to the general population, kidney transplant recipients have a significantly higher risk of contracting cardiovascular disease, which is one of the leading causes of death in these patients. The aim of this analysis is to compare some novel myocardial damage biomarkers with standard ones and with cardiac ultrasonography measurements in this group of patients.

Methods: The study included 91 adult kidney transplant recipients whose data on cardiac ultrasound was compared with levels of the following cardiac damage biomarkers: galectin-3, soluble interleukin 1 receptor-like 1 (ST2), FK506-binding protein-like, procollagen type III N-terminal peptide, and periostin. Patients were divided into two groups based on diastolic dysfunction grade.

Results: The median age of patients was 43 years (interquartile range—IQR: 37-53). Galectin-3 showed a significant positive correlation with the systolic-to-diastolic velocity ratio (r=0.300, p≤0.05), while a negative correlation was found with the left atrium volume index (r=-0.377, p≤0.05). ST2 showed a significant positive correlation with the left ventricular mass index (r=0.318, p≤0.05) and procollagen type III N-terminal peptide with peak velocity blood flow in late diastole caused by atrial contraction (r=0.289, p≤0.05). Serum periostin showed a significant positive correlation with the systolic-to-diastolic velocity ratio (r=0.329, p≤0.05), while a negative correlation was found with the peak velocity blood flow from left ventricular relaxation in early diastole (r=-0.343, p≤0.05). A between-group comparison in terms of diastolic dysfunction grade showed that patients withdiastolic dysfunction grades 0 and 1 had significantly higher levels of galectin-3 compared to the patients with grade 2 and 3 (17.53 vs. 15.92 ng/ml, p=0.03).

Conclusion: Analyzed biomarkers show significant potential in determining the level of cardiac function commonly measured by ultrasonographic methods. Given their correlation with some standard biomarkers and diastolic dysfunction grade observed in this analysis, these biomarkers could be utilizedin procedures by evaluating cardiac function in kidney transplant recipients and contributing to timely diagnosis of these conditions.