Fibroblast growth factor 23: are we ready to use it in clinical practice?

Patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) have a greatly enhanced risk of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. Over the past decade it has come clear that a disturbed calcium-phosphate metabolism, with Fibroblast Growth Factor-23 as a key hormone, is partly accountable for this enhanced risk. Numerous studies have been performed unravelling FGF23s actions and its association with clinical conditions. As FGF23 is strongly associated with adverse outcome it may be a promising biomarker for risk prediction or, even more important, targeting FGF23 may be a strategy to improve patient outcome. This review elaborates on the clinical usefulness of FGF23 measurement. Firstly it discusses the reliability of the FGF23 measurement. Secondly, it evaluates whether FGF23 measurement may lead to improved patient risk classification. Finally, and possibly most importantly, this review evaluates if lowering of FGF23 should be a target for therapy. For this, the review discusses the current evidence indicating that FGF23 may be in the causal pathway to cardiovascular pathology, provides an overview of strategies to lower FGF23 levels and discusses the current evidence concerning the benefit of lowering FGF23

Short-term effects of sevelamer-carbonate on fibroblast growth factor 23 and pulse wave velocity in patients with normophosphataemic chronic kidney disease Stage 3

Background: High concentrations of both phosphate and fibroblast growth factor 23 (FGF23) observed in chronic kidney disease (CKD) are associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. Pulse wave velocity (PWV) is a surrogate marker for cardiovascular events and all-cause mortality. It is not known whether a reduction of FGF23 or phosphate alters cardiovascular risk. Sevelamer has shown to have the ability to reduce both phosphate and FGF23 concentrations. Furthermore, reduction of PWV is reported with sevelamer use as well, but it is unclear if this is mediated by decline of phosphate or FGF23. We investigated if sevelamer induced a decline in PWV and if this was associated with a reduction in FGF23. Methods: In all, 24 normophosphataemic CKD Stage 3 patients started treatment with a fixed dose of sevelamer-carbonate (Renvela®) 2.4 g twice daily, with their usual diet for 8 weeks in a single-arm study. PWV was measured and blood samples were obtained before, during and after washout of treatment with sevelamer. Vascular calcification was quantified using the Kauppila Index (KI). The primary outcome was the change of PWV from baseline to 8 weeks of treatment and the secondary endpoint was the difference of FGF23 following treatment with sevelamer. One of the linear mixed models was used to analyse the association between treatment and outcome. Mediation analysis was performed as a sensitivity analysis. The study was registered in the Dutch trial register (http://www.trialregister.nl: NTR2383). Results: A total of 18 patients completed 8 weeks of treatment with sevelamer and were analysed. Overall, treatment with sevelamer did not induce a significant reduction of PWV (β = -0.36, P = 0.12). However, in patients with less vascular calcification (lower KI score), there was a statistically significant reduction of PWV, adjusted for mean arterial pressure, after treatment (β = 0.63, P = 0.02). Addition of FGF23 to the model did not alter this association. Mediation analysis yielded similar results. FGF23 did not decrease during treatment with sevelamer. Conclusion: In this short-term pilot study in normophosphataemic CKD patients, treatment with sevelamer did not improve PWV. In subgroup analysis, however, PWV improved in patients with no or limited abdominal aorta calcifications. This was not associated with a decline of FGF23

Impact of fractional phosphate excretion on the relation of FGF23 with outcome in CKD patients

BACKGROUND: Cardiovascular risk is increased in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD). Fibroblast growth factor 23 (FGF23) has emerged as an important, independent predictor of outcome in CKD patients. High FGF23 may, however, be a reflection of renal tissue resistance to its actions, reflected by low fractional excretion of phosphate (FePi). We evaluated the modifying effect of FePi on the association between FGF23 and outcome in patients with CKD stage 3-4. METHODS: An analysis was performed in a subset of 166 adult patients of two participating centers of the MASTERPLAN trial of whom urine samples at baseline were available to calculate FePi. Outcome was defined as a composite of death, renal failure (defined as need for renal replacement therapy or doubling of serum creatinine) and cardiovascular events (myocardial infarction, cerebrovascular accident, percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty or coronary artery bypass graft. Patients were categorized by FGF23 and FePi. A product term was added to Cox regression and RERIs were calculated. RESULTS: Patients had a median estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) of 36 ml/min/1.73 m(2) [interquartile range (IQR) 27-44], serum phosphate 1.04 mmol/l (IQR 0.92-1.20), FGF23 140 RU/ml (IQR 81-236) and FePi 0.32 (IQR 0.25-0.44). A total of 96 events occurred during 5 years of follow up. LnFGF23 was a significant, independent predictor for the composite outcome [hazard ratio (HR) 2.13, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.53-2.95]. FePi did not modify the relation between FGF23 and outcome in these patients with CKD. CONCLUSIONS: Our study shows that FGF23 itself, but not its renal tissue resistance as reflected by FePi, is an important risk factor for clinical events in subjects with CKD stage 3-4