Initially described as a regulator of energetic metabolism and inflammatory/immune responses, chemerin was recently recognized as a key molecule for cardiovascular homeostasis and a prognostic indicator in patients with coronary artery disease or chronic heart failure.

The objective was to analyze circulating chemerin in patients with cardiomyopathy defined as an isolated disease of the myocardium unexplained by abnormal loading conditions or by coronary artery disease.

Three referral centers in Lubumbashi recruited 55 patients and 70 control subjects between April 2018 and May 2019. Diagnosis of dilated or hypertrophic cardiomyopathy was confirmed by Echocardiography. The control group was composed of normotensive volunteer blood donors without complaints or abnormal clinical sign at physical examination.

Cardiomyopathy patients (CM) were older and more frequently overweight than control subjects (CTRL). Dilated cardiomyopathy was the most frequent non-ischemic cardiomyopathy accounting for 89% of all cases, all patients were symptomatic, the majority of them being in NYHA class 3 (55%). NT-proBNP increased with the class of heart failure. Serum chemerin concentration was elevated in CM compared to CTRL (6.5+2 versus 3.8+1nM, P<0.01). Serum chemerin was not related to age, sex and arterial pressure. In the CM cohort, chemerin was not related to tobacco use, body mass index or NYHA class. Using a cut-off value of 4.4nM, serum chemerin differentiated CM from CTRL with a sensitivity of 91% and a specificity of 76%. In patients, serum chemerin concentration was inversely correlated to the left ventricular ejection fraction (P<0.01).

In this study, serum chemerin concentrations were significantly elevated in cardiomyopathy patients compared to CTRL. Results suggest that chemerin could be implicated in the pathobiology of cardiomyopathies and could be a useful help for clinical diagnosis.