Association of serum adropin with the presence of atrial fibrillation and atrial remodeling

OBJECTIVE: Adropin, a newly identified regulatory protein encoded by Enho gene, suppressed tumor necrosis factor α-induced THP1 monocyte adhesion to human umbilical vein endothelial cells. In addition, inflammation is demonstrated to be involved in the mechanism of atrial fibrillation (AF). Atrial remodeling is correlated with the persistence and progression of AF. Adropin is hypothesized to correlated with AF and atrial remodeling. This study aims to determine the correlation of serum adropin and the presence of AF and remodeling. METHODS: This study consisted of 344 AF patients and 210 healthy controls. AF patients were then divided into three subgroups of paroxysmal AF, persistent AF, and permanent AF. Serum adropin concentrations were examined using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay method. Left atrial diameter (LAD) was measured to evaluate atrial remodeling. RESULTS: Decreased serum adropin concentrations were found in AF patients compared with healthy controls. Logistic regression analysis confirmed that serum adropin was inversely associated with the presence of AF (OR 0.218, 95% CI 0.15-0.316; P < 0.001). Permanent AF patients had significantly reduced serum adropin concentrations compared with persistent and paroxysmal AF patients. There were decreased serum adropin concentrations in persistent AF group than those in paroxysmal AF group. Simple linear regression analyses showed that serum adropin in AF patients were negatively correlated with BMI, SBP, and LAD. Multiple stepwise regression analysis showed that LAD remained to be inversely associated with serum adropin (β = 0.2, P = 0.010). CONCLUSION: Serum adropin concentrations are inversely correlated with the presence of AF and atrial remodeling.