Usefulness of Soluble Endoglin as a Non-invasive Measure of Left Ventricular Filling Pressure in Heart Failure

Progressive left ventricular (LV) dysfunction induces expression of the cytokine transforming growth factor-beta (TGFb1). Endoglin (CD105) is a TGFb1 co-receptor that is released into the circulation as soluble endoglin (sEng). The objective of this study was to assess serum levels of sEng in heart failure and to identify the predictive value of sEng for detecting elevated left ventricular end-diastolic pressures (LVEDP). We measured sEng levels in 82 consecutive patients with suspected LV dysfunction referred for determination of left heart filling pressures by cardiac catheterization. Among these subjects sEng levels correlated with LVEDP (R=0.689; p