Serum SERCA2a Levels in Heart Failure Patients Are Associated with Adverse Events After Discharge

Abstract Background: Calcium homeostasis imbalance is one of the important pathological mechanisms in heart failure. Sarco /endoplasmic reticulum Ca2+-ATPase (SERCA2a), a calcium ATPase on the sarcoplasmic reticulum in cardiac myocytes, is a myocardial systolic-diastolic Ca2+ homeostasis regulating enzyme that is not only involved in cardiac diastole but also indirectly affects cardiac myocyte contraction. SERCA2a expression was found to be decreased in myocardial tissue in heart failure, and SERCA2a gene therapy may be a potential target for patients with heart failure; however, there are few reports on serum SERCA2a expression in patients with heart failure, and this study was designed to investigate whether serum SERCA2a levels are associated with the occurrence of adverse events after discharge in patients hospitalized with heart failure.Methods: Patients with heart failure hospitalized in the cardiovascular department of the Second Affiliated Hospital of Guangdong Medical University, China, from July 2018 to July 2019 were included in this study, and serum SERCA2a concentrations were measured; each enrolled patient was followed up by telephone after 6 months (6 ± 1 months) for general post-discharge patient status. The correlation between serum SERCA2a levels and the occurrence of adverse events (death or readmission due to heart failure) after hospital discharge was assessed using univariate analysis and trend analysis.Results: Seventy-one patients with heart failure were finally included in this study, of whom 38 (53.5%) were men and 33 (46.5%) were women. Univariate analysis revealed no correlation between serum SERCA2a levels and the occurrence of adverse events in the total study population and in male patients, but serum SERCA2a levels were associated with the occurrence of adverse outcome events after hospital discharge in female patients (OR=1.02, P=0.047). Further analysis using a trend analysis yielded a 4.0% increase in the risk of adverse outcomes after hospital discharge for each unit increase in SERCA2a in female patients (OR=1.04; P=0.02), while no significant difference was seen in men.Conclusions: This study suggests that serum SERCA2a levels at admission are associated with the occurrence of post-discharge adverse events in female patients hospitalized with heart failure and that serum SERCA2a may be a potential serologic predictor of post-discharge adverse events in patients with heart failure.