{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,7]],"date-time":"2026-08-07T15:14:10Z","timestamp":1786115650420,"version":"build-2736575974"},"reference-count":17,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,6]],"date-time":"2026-08-06T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1785974400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Cardiovasc. Med."],"abstract":"<jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Objectives<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>To explore whether circulating endocan concentrations differ between adults with imaging-confirmed peripheral artery disease (PAD) and controls without clinically evident PAD, and to generate hypotheses regarding the relationship between endocan and PAD-associated endothelial and inflammatory activity.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>In this single-centre exploratory cross-sectional study, 56 patients with imaging-confirmed PAD were compared with 54 cardiovascular risk-enriched controls without clinically evident PAD based on pulse examination and handheld Doppler assessment. Serum endocan was measured by ELISA, and exploratory between-group and multivariable analyses were performed.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>\n                      The distributions of major cardiovascular comorbidities were statistically comparable between groups; however, the comparator group itself had a substantial cardiovascular-risk burden, including coronary artery disease in 74.1%, diabetes mellitus in 46.3%, hypertension in 59.3%, hyperlipidemia in 83.3%, and smoking in 44.4%. Mean serum endocan concentrations were numerically higher in the PAD group than in the comparator group (218.8\u2009\u00b1\u2009166.9 vs. 170.5\u2009\u00b1\u200990.0\u2005pg\/mL), but the between-group difference did not reach statistical significance (\n                      <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>\n                      \u2009=\u20090.063). PAD status was not independently associated with serum endocan following multivariable adjustment.\n                    <\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Conclusions<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>In this exploratory cohort, serum endocan concentrations were numerically higher in patients with PAD, but the between-group difference was not statistically significant and no independent association with PAD was demonstrated after adjustment. Interpretation is materially limited by the cardiovascular risk-enriched comparator population, in whom generalized endothelial activation and possible subclinical PAD may have reduced between-group separation. These findings do not validate endocan as a PAD-specific diagnostic biomarker and cannot be extrapolated to comparisons with low-risk healthy populations. Rather, they generate hypotheses for future studies using uniformly phenotyped healthy and risk-matched comparator groups.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.3389\/fcvm.2026.1769347","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,6]],"date-time":"2026-08-06T04:25:37Z","timestamp":1785990337000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Serum endocan levels in patients with peripheral artery disease: an exploratory cross-sectional study"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"13","author":[{"given":"Canan","family":"Aydo\u011fan","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Cardiology, Konya Numune Hospital","place":["Konya, T\u00fcrkiye"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"H\u00fcseyin","family":"Tezcan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Cardiology, Konya Selcuk University Medical Faculty Hospital","place":["Konya, T\u00fcrkiye"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Nazif","family":"Ayg\u00fcl","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Cardiology, Konya Selcuk University Medical Faculty Hospital","place":["Konya, T\u00fcrkiye"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Abdullah","family":"Sivrikaya","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Biochemistry, Konya Selcuk University Medical Faculty Hospital","place":["Konya, T\u00fcrkiye"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"B\u00fclent Behl\u00fcl","family":"Altunkeser","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Cardiology, Konya Selcuk University Medical Faculty Hospital","place":["Konya, T\u00fcrkiye"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Abdullah","family":"Tun\u00e7ez","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Cardiology, Selcuk University Faculty of Medicine","place":["Konya, T\u00fcrkiye"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Asl\u0131han Merve","family":"Toprak Su","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Cardiology, Kayseri State Hospital","place":["Kayseri, T\u00fcrkiye"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Kenan","family":"Demir","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Cardiology, Konya Selcuk University Medical Faculty Hospital","place":["Konya, T\u00fcrkiye"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"B\u00fc\u015fra","family":"Ecer","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Biochemistry, Konya Beyhekim Education and Research Hospital","place":["Konya, T\u00fcrkiye"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,6]]},"reference":[{"key":"B1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"156","DOI":"10.1038\/nrcardio.2016.179","article-title":"Peripheral artery disease: epidemiology and global perspectives","volume":"14","author":"Fowkes","year":"2017","journal-title":"Nat Rev Cardiol"},{"key":"B2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"2017","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jacc.2009.08.090","article-title":"Biomarkers of peripheral arterial disease","volume":"55","author":"Cooke","year":"2010","journal-title":"J Am Coll Cardiol"},{"key":"B3","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"25","DOI":"10.1016\/j.bbcan.2005.08.004","article-title":"Endocan or endothelial cell specific molecule-1 (ESM-1): a potential novel endothelial cell marker and a new target for cancer therapy","volume":"1765","author":"Sarrazin","year":"2006","journal-title":"Biochim Biophys Acta Rev Cancer"},{"key":"B4","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"339","DOI":"10.1016\/j.atherosclerosis.2015.09.030","article-title":"Endocan: a novel inflammatory indicator in cardiovascular disease?","volume":"243","author":"Balta","year":"2015","journal-title":"Atherosclerosis"},{"key":"B5","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"798699","DOI":"10.3389\/fcvm.2021.798699","article-title":"Endocan: a key player of cardiovascular disease","volume":"8","author":"Chen","year":"2022","journal-title":"Front Cardiovasc Med"},{"key":"B6","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"631","DOI":"10.1177\/00033197231166492","article-title":"Interleukin-17, and thrombospondin-4 for the diagnosis, assessment of severity, and follow-up of peripheral arterial disease","volume":"74","author":"Yazman","year":"2023","journal-title":"Angiology"},{"key":"B7","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"577","DOI":"10.3390\/medicina61040577","article-title":"Serum endocan levels as a risk factor for peripheral artery disease in non-dialysis patients with chronic kidney disease stages 3\u20135","volume":"61","author":"Cheng","year":"2025","journal-title":"Medicina (B Aires)"},{"key":"B8","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"76","DOI":"10.14744\/AnatolJCardiol.2018.25564","article-title":"Is endocan a biochemical marker for asymptomatic target organ damage in hypertensive patients?","volume":"21","author":"A\u011fa\u00e7","year":"2018","journal-title":"Anatol J Cardiol"},{"key":"B9","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"98","DOI":"10.1186\/s13643-025-02858-4","article-title":"The predictive value of endocan as a novel biomarker: an umbrella study on meta-analyses","volume":"14","author":"Nayak","year":"2025","journal-title":"Syst Rev"},{"key":"B10","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1438367","DOI":"10.3389\/fnagi.2024.1438367","article-title":"Endocan, a novel glycoprotein with multiple biological activities, may play important roles in neurological diseases","volume":"16","author":"Liu","year":"2024","journal-title":"Front Aging Neurosci"},{"key":"B11","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"794","DOI":"10.1038\/s41440-023-01542-1","article-title":"How can endocan be used as a specific biomarker of endothelial dysfunction in hypertension?","volume":"47","author":"Hirooka","year":"2024","journal-title":"Hypertens Res"},{"key":"B12","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"354","DOI":"10.1177\/0003319716651349","article-title":"Serum endothelial cell-specific molecule 1 (endocan) levels in patients with acute myocardial infarction and its clinical significance","volume":"68","author":"Qiu","year":"2017","journal-title":"Angiology"},{"key":"B13","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"472","DOI":"10.1177\/1076029615618024","article-title":"The relationship between Serum endocan levels with the presence of slow coronary flow: a cross-sectional study","volume":"23","author":"Kundi","year":"2017","journal-title":"Clin Appl Thromb Hemost"},{"key":"B14","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"2497","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jacc.2024.02.013","article-title":"2024 ACC\/AHA\/AACVPR\/APMA\/ABC\/SCAI\/SVM\/SVN\/SVS\/SIR\/VESS guideline for the management of lower extremity peripheral artery disease: a report of the American College of Cardiology\/American Heart Association joint committee on clinical practice guidelines","volume":"83","author":"Gornik","year":"2024","journal-title":"J Am Coll Cardiol"},{"key":"B15","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"60","DOI":"10.1007\/s11239-016-1424-6","article-title":"Endocan: a novel biomarker associated with well-developed coronary collateral circulation in patients with stable angina and chronic total occlusion","volume":"43","author":"Emet","year":"2017","journal-title":"J Thromb Thrombolysis"},{"key":"B16","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"622","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jvs.2019.10.094","article-title":"Neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio predicts disease severity and outcome after lower extremity procedures","volume":"72","author":"Bath","year":"2020","journal-title":"J Vasc Surg"},{"key":"B17","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"3538","DOI":"10.1093\/eurheartj\/ehae179","article-title":"2024 ESC guidelines for the management of peripheral arterial and aortic diseases","volume":"45","author":"Mazzolai","year":"2024","journal-title":"Eur Heart J"}],"container-title":["Frontiers in Cardiovascular Medicine"],"original-title":[],"link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.frontiersin.org\/articles\/10.3389\/fcvm.2026.1769347\/full","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,6]],"date-time":"2026-08-06T04:25:38Z","timestamp":1785990338000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.frontiersin.org\/articles\/10.3389\/fcvm.2026.1769347\/full"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,6]]},"references-count":17,"alternative-id":["10.3389\/fcvm.2026.1769347"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/fcvm.2026.1769347","relation":{},"ISSN":["2297-055X"],"issn-type":[{"value":"2297-055X","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,6]]},"article-number":"1769347"}}