The aim of this study was to explore the relationship between peripheral circulating serum soluble suppression of tumorigenicity-2 (sST2) levels and inflammatory biomarkers in patients with acute heart failure (AHF).

One hundred and eleven consecutive AHF patients with NYHA class II-IV were enrolled, and peripheral blood was collected within 24 h of admission for the detection of NT-ProBNP, sST2, hypersensitive troponin I, cytokines, precalcitoninogen, C-reactive protein, in addition to routine standard of care blood tests.

The median sST2 of 111 patients was 47.50 ng/ml (24.25–86.15 IQR), of whom 43 patients (38.7%) had sST2 35 ng/ml or less; linear correlation analysis showed that serum sST2 correlated with NT-ProBNP (r2 = 0.32), NEU% (r2 = 0.41), NLR (r2 = 0.36), CRP (r2 = 0.50), IL-18 (r2 = 0.43) (P < 0.001), and correlated with Hs-cTnI (r2 = 0.19), NUE (r2 = 0.25), LYM (r2 = -0.23), IL-2RA (r2 = 0.29) (P < 0.05). Multiple linear regression analysis depicted that CRP (β = 0.318), IL-18 (β = 0.368), NEU% (β = 0.346), NLR (β = −0.304), and NT-ProBNP (β = 0.324) significantly correlated with sST2 values, respectively (P < 0.05). ST2 levels have a linear association with length of hospitalization.

Peripheral blood inflammatory markers (CRP, IL-18, NEU%, NLR) in patients with AHF had a close relationship with sST2 levels, and the mechanism of action of sST2 may be related to the inflammatory response.