Plasma pentraxin 3 may be a better marker of peripheral artery disease in hemodialysis patients than C-reactive protein

Pentraxin 3 (PTX3) is a novel inflammatory cytokine produced in atherosclerotic plaque. We hypothesized that this marker may be a better predictor of peripheral artery disease (PAD) than C-reactive protein (CRP) in hemodialysis (HD) patients. The ankle–brachial index (ABI) was measured in HD patients. PTX3 levels in 116 HD patients and 30 healthy blood donors were measured by ELISA. A total of 116 HD patients (age: 56.44 ± 14.08 years) were enrolled; 21 (18%) patients had PAD. PTX3 was significantly higher in PAD versus non-PAD patients (5.55 ± 2.63 vs 2.32 ± 1.29 ng/mL; p < 0.001). In a univariate analysis, ABI correlated significantly with age, blood glucose and triglycerides, and plasma PTX3 (r = -0.548, p < 0.001) and high-sensitivity (hs)CRP (r = -0.495, p < 0.001). Using ROC curve analysis for PAD, PTX3 (cut-off value 4.06 ng/mL, AUC 0.901, p < 0.0001) showed a significantly better positive predictive value than hsCRP (cut-off value 3.33 mg/L, AUC 0.640, p < 0.05). Logistic regression analysis furth...