Relationship between Blood Myostatin Levels and Kidney Function:Shimane CoHRE Study

• Published in: PloS one Vol. 10; no. 10; p. e0141035
• Main Authors: Yano, Shozo, Nagai, Atsushi, Isomura, Minoru, Yamasaki, Masayuki, Kijima, Tsunetaka, Takeda, Miwako, Hamano, Tsuyoshi, Nabika, Toru
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Public Library of Science 26.10.2015; Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subjects: Aged; Atherosclerosis; Body mass; Correlation; Creatinine; Cross-Sectional Studies; Diabetes; Education; Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay; Epidermal growth factor receptors; Female; Genes; Glomerular filtration rate; Glomerular Filtration Rate - physiology; Health aspects; Humans; Kidney; Kidney - metabolism; Kidney - pathology; Kidney diseases; Kidneys; Laboratories; Linear Models; Lipoproteins (low density); Low density lipoprotein; Male; Medical research; Muscles; Musculoskeletal system; Mutation; Myostatin; Myostatin - blood; Pathogenesis; Preventive medicine; Proteins; Random sampling; Regression analysis; Renal Insufficiency, Chronic - blood; Rural areas; Sarcopenia; Skeletal muscle; Statistical sampling; University faculty; Japan
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0141035

Myostatin (MSTN), a member of TGF-β superfamily, is produced in the skeletal muscle to inhibit myocyte differentiation. MSTN expression is increased in the skeletal muscle in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD), which may play a role in the pathogenesis of sarcopenia or in the protein energy wasting (PEW). This observation implies that the plasma MSTN level may be correlated with kidney function. Thus, we conducted a cross-sectional study to evaluate the association between the plasma MSTN concentration and the estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR). Subjects were 781 participants of a health examination performed in a rural area in Japan. Among them, 124 subjects were selected by stratified random sampling according to eGFR. Creatinine clearance (ClCr) by the Cockcroft-Gault equation was used as a measure of kidney function. Plasma concentration of MSTN was determined by ELISA. The plasma MSTN level was not different between men (3.42±1.61 ng/mL) and women (3.27±1.43 ng/mL). In a simple regression analysis, the MSTN level was significantly correlated with eGFR (r = -0.25, p<0.01) and ClCr (r = -0.20, p<0.05) but not with age and BMI. In a multiple linear regression analysis, the MSTN level showed a negative correlation with eGFR (standardized β = -0.31, p<0.01) and ClCr (standardized β = -0.35, p<0.01) under the adjustment with age, sex, BMI and LDL-C. Weak correlation was observed between the MSTN level and BMI / the serum LDL-C level. When the subjects were stratified into 4 groups according to eGFR, MSTN was significantly greater in the groups with the lowest and the 2nd lowest eGFR (3.55±1.79 and 3.76±1.75 ng/mL, respectively) than the level in the group with the highest eGFR (2.77±0.85 ng/mL). Plasma MSTN level was elevated in an early stage of CKD, which could be involved in the progression of sarcopenia.