Plasma NAP-2 levels are associated with critical limb ischemia in peripheral arterial disease patients.

IMPACT STATEMENT: Critical limb ischemia (CLI) is a serious arterial obstruction, resulting in serious reduction of blood flow to the extremities. CLI is a symptomatic disorder and is frequently not diagnosed in time. This results in a high mortality and elevated risk of limb amputation. Serum or plasma biomarkers play important roles in disease prevention, diagnosis, and prognosis. Elevated plasma neutrophil-activating peptide-2 (NAP-2) was found independently associated with CLI, but not with T2DM. Plasma NAP-2 levels might be an early CLI diagnostic biomarker and might provide a novel target for CLI treatment.