Serum SCUBE-1 levels can predict endothelial dysfunction in healthy young adults

Objectives: This study aims to investigate the predictive role of the signal peptide-CUB-EGF domain-containing protein-1 (SCUBE-1)in the presence of endothelial dysfunction.Patients and methods: Between December 2014 and August 2015, 120 healthy young adults (68 males, 52 females; mean age 29.7±4.1 years;range, 20 to 35 years) without a previous history of cardiovascular disease were included. The participants were divided into two groupsaccording to normal (n=73) and abnormal flow-mediated dilatation (FMD) response (n=47). Simultaneously, the standard biochemicalmarkers, blood urea-nitrogen, creatinine, liver enzymes, glucose, lipids and SCUBE-1 levels were determined from the blood samples.Results: Multivariable logistic regression revealed a strong association between SCUBE-1 and FMD (p<0.001). We found that for a cut-offpoint of >136.37 ng/mL, SCUBE-1 had 85.0% sensitivity and 81.2% specificity to identify abnormal FMD.Conclusion: Our study findings indicate that there is a favorable inverse correlation between the SCUBE-1 and FMD.