Temporal changes of soluble ST2 after cardiovascular interventions

Background Soluble ST2 (sST2), a member of the IL-1 receptor family, has been proposed as a novel biomarker with predictive value for heart failure and mortality in patients suffering from cardiovascular diseases. The influence of clinical characteristics on variability of sST2 levels is relatively unexplored. Here, we studied the effect of cardiovascular interventions and clinical characteristics on plasma sST2 expression levels. Material and methods In the current study, sST2 levels were assessed in the plasma of patients scheduled for coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) (n = 76), percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) (n = 68) or peripheral vascular surgery (n = 27). Results Age was the only classical risk factor significantly correlating with sST2 levels. Soluble ST2 levels were significantly increased 1 h after CABG (48 [33–70] vs. 61 [42–89] pg/mL, P = 0·001) and increased even further after 24 h (1116 [578–13 666] pg/mL, P < 0·001). An average threefold increase in sST2 levels was also observed in patients 24 h after peripheral interventions (30 [21–41] vs. 98 [48–211] pg/mL, P < 0·001). Two months after PCI, we found that sST2 levels were significantly higher compared with baseline levels (41 [29–61] vs. 48 [31–80] pg/mL, P = 0·007, n = 52). In addition, we did not observe an association between sST2 and any inflammatory or cardiac-specific markers that were measured in this study. Conclusions Soluble ST2 increases significantly following cardiovascular interventions. The notion of a recent cardiovascular intervention is a strong determinant of sST2 levels and therefore needs to be taken into account when exploring sST2 as predictor of future cardiovascular events.