Interleukin-38 as a potential diagnostic biomarker for heart failure

Interleukin-38 (IL-38) attenuates inflammation, myocardial injury, and ventricular remodeling after myocardial infarction, which potentially reduces the incidence of heart failure (HF). This study aimed to evaluate the diagnostic value of IL-38 for HF. IL-38 was detected via enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay in the serum samples of 238 hF patients and 30 healthy controls when enrollment. IL-38 was elevated in HF patients compared with controls (p = 0.002). Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis showed that the area under the curve (AUC) of IL-38 for predicting HF risk was 0.676 (95% confidence interval = 0.594-0.758). The Youden index of IL-38 for diagnosing HF peaked at 0.329 when the cutoff value of IL-38 was set as 6 ng/mL, with sensitivity and specificity of 0.833 and 0.496, respectively. Before (odds ratio = 1.493, p = 0.002) and after (odds ratio = 1.500, p = 0.007) adjustment of age and gender by multivariable regression analysis, IL-38 was associated with a higher HF risk. Moreover, the combination of IL-38 with age and gender possessed a good value for predicting HF risk (AUC = 0.796, 95% confidence interval = 0.706-0.885). IL-38 is increased in HF patients compared with controls, and its combination with age and gender shows a good value for the diagnosis of HF.