| Abstract: | Objective To explore possible associations between osteopontin(OPN) and intact parathyroid hormone(iPTH), to investigate effects of them on the progression of carotid artery calcification in patients receiving long-term hemodialysis. Methods Forty-eight maintenance hemodialysis (MHD) patients and 28 age- and sex-matched healthy volunteers were recruited. The concentration of OPN in peripheral blood was determined by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Levels of iPTH and presence of plaques in the common carotid arteries were also measured. The demographics were recorded. Results Compared with controls, levels of OPN[(137.4±80.8)ng/L vs (31.6±6.7) ng/L, P＜0.01] and iPTH[(456.4±326.4) ng/L vs (66.9±19.3)ng/L, P＜0.01] were higher inMHD patients before hemodialysis, the numbers of calcific plaques in the common carotid arteries were increased in MHD patients (P＜0.01). There was a positive correlation between pre-dialysis OPN levels and iPTH levels (r＝0.620, P＜0.01) in MHD patients. Higher levels of OPN and iPTH correlated with greater numbers of calcific plaques in the common carotid arteries after division into three subgroups of MHD patients based on calcific plaques. In multiple linear regression analysis, the correlation between the pre-dialysis OPN and iPTH levels remained the same even if adjusting for confounding effects[β＝0.468, 95%CI (0.036, 0.195), t＝2.936, P＝0.005]. Conclusion OPN level is positively correlated with iPTH level in hemodialysis patients, which suggesting that both of them play important roles in the progression of carotid artery calcification. |
