Influence of Soluble Endothelial Protein C Receptor (sEPCR) on Hypercoagulable State of Haemodialysis Patients

Thrombotic events are common in end-stage renal disease patients. Several thrombosis favoring hematologic alterations have been demonstrated in these patients. This study sought correlation between plasma levels of soluble endothelial protein C receptor (sEPCR) and thrombotic events in Haemodialysis (HD) patients and other possible thrombotic risk factors.50 HD patients and 30 healthy controls were included. The patients were divided into two groups according to presence of thrombosis in the last 6 months group 1 (n=25) (without history of thrombosis) and group 2 (n=25) (with history of thrombosis). Plasma level of sEPCR was assessed by sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Mean sEPCR level was significantly higher in HD patients than in controls. Group 2 patients had significantly higher mean sEPCR compared with group 1 patients. Upon performing ROC curve analysis a cutoff point greater than200 ng/ml for sEPCR was able to discriminate between the two patients' groups with 90.3% diagnostic accuracy. Also, upon classifying the patients into tertiles according to plasma sEPCR levels, the percentage of thromboses development was significantly increasing with increasing levels of sEPCR. Our findings demonstrate an association of sEPCR level in HD and thromboses development and suggest it as candidate marker for the hypercoagulable state in these patients.