EN-RAGE (extracellular newly identified receptor for advanced glycation end-products binding protein) and mortality of long-term hemodialysis patients: Aprospective observational cohort study

ObjectivesEN-RAGE is extracellular newly identified receptor for advanced glycation end-products binding protein playing a role in inflammation. The aim was to test the relationship of EN-RAGE to prognosis of long-term hemodialysis patients (HD).Design and methodsThis is a prospective observational cohort study in 261 HD patients followed up for five years. Laboratory parameters were measured at the beginning of the study.ResultsEN-RAGE was slightly but unsignificantly increased in HD patients compared with healthy controls and correlated significantly with inflammatory markers. Univariate Cox analysis demonstrated EN-RAGE as a significant predictor for mortality due to infection (HR (95%CI): 1.305 (1.063–1.602), per standard deviation, p = 0.01), but this significance disappeared in multivariate Cox analysis when CRP was included into the model.ConclusionsOur study demonstrates EN-RAGE as an inflammatory biomarker. It is related to mortality of HD patients due to infection, but in our study, it did not provide additional information to CRP.