Heart failure & cardiomyopathiesResearch article
Integrated miRNA-cytokine profiling reveals a molecular signature of cachexia in patients with chronic heart failure
- Twenty-five chronic heart failure (CHF) patients (median age 78.0 years, 40% male) and 10 controls (median age 56.8 years, 60% male) were studied
Authors' conclusion
CHF is associated with miRNA suppression and elevated stress cytokine levels, amplified in CC. miR-29b and FGF-21 showed associations with CC, functional impairment, and structural remodelling, warranting validation in larger longitudinal cohorts.
Study context
- Population
- Patients with chronic heart failure (CHF), with and without cardiac cachexia (CC), and controlsCHF patients Twenty-five · controls 10
- Comparison
- CHF patients compared with controls; associations with CC and clinical CHF phenotypes
- CHF patientsn = Twenty-five
- controlsn = 10
Main finding
As reported in the abstract
miR-15b, miR-29b, miR-133a, and miR-486
lower levels in CHF patients compared with controls
all P < .01
Further findings
GDF-15
- elevated GDF-15 levels in CHF patients compared with controls
- P < 0.001
FGF-21
- higher in patients with CC
- P = 0.012
- higher in HFrEF vs HFpEF
- P = 0.039
- higher in NYHA III-IV vs I-II
- P = 0.05
miR-29b
- lower in CC
- P = 0.019
- lower in HFrEF + CC vs HFpEF + nCC
- P = 0.019
Correlations in CC
- FGF-21 inversely correlated with miR-486
- ρ = −.69, P = .035
- GDF-15 inversely correlated with miR-21
- ρ = −.81, P = .007
Original publication
Integrated miRNA-cytokine profiling reveals a molecular signature of cachexia in patients with chronic heart failure. ESC Heart Fail. Published 9 October 2026. doi:10.1093/eschf/xvag229
Summarised from the published abstract; every number is checked against it