{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,30]],"date-time":"2026-07-30T12:14:28Z","timestamp":1785413668863,"version":"3.56.0"},"reference-count":39,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"15","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,24]],"date-time":"2026-07-24T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1784851200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development, Republic of Serbia","award":["451-03-34\/2026-03\/200113"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["451-03-34\/2026-03\/200113"]}]},{"award":["451-03-34\/2026-03\/200113"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["451-03-34\/2026-03\/200113"]}],"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/01znas443","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Int. J. Mol. Sci.","IJMS"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Dephosphorylated uncarboxylated matrix Gla protein (dp-ucMGP) is considered a marker of vitamin K status and vascular calcification risk in chronic kidney disease. This study assessed the association of serum dp-ucMGP, alone and combined with albumin, with all-cause and cardiovascular mortality in maintenance hemodialysis patients. This single-center observational cohort study included 133 maintenance hemodialysis patients with a two-year survival follow-up. Analyses involving dp-ucMGP and albumin were performed in 113 patients with complete biomarker data. Baseline serum dp-ucMGP, albumin, inflammatory markers, and routine laboratory parameters were measured. Associations with all-cause and cardiovascular mortality were evaluated using group comparisons, ROC curve analysis, Kaplan\u2013Meier analysis, and Cox regression. Patients who died had significantly lower dp-ucMGP and albumin levels and higher inflammatory and hematological indices than survivors, with similar findings for cardiovascular mortality. The combined dp-ucMGP\u2013albumin model showed higher apparent discriminatory performance than either marker alone for all-cause mortality (AUC 0.793, 95% CI 0.708\u20130.878, p &lt; 0.001) and cardiovascular mortality (AUC 0.778, 95% CI 0.687\u20130.868, p &lt; 0.001). Lower dp-ucMGP levels were associated with worse survival. In multivariable Cox regression, higher dp-ucMGP and albumin were independently associated with lower mortality. Combined dp-ucMGP and albumin assessment may provide complementary prognostic information in hemodialysis patients but requires validation in larger cohorts.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/ijms27156596","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,24]],"date-time":"2026-07-24T10:38:41Z","timestamp":1784889521000},"page":"6596","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Combined Assessment of Serum dp-ucMGP and Albumin in Relation to All-Cause and Cardiovascular Mortality in Hemodialysis Patients"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"27","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-2862-5665","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Vladana","family":"Stojiljkovic","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Biochemistry, Medical Faculty, University of Nis, Blvd. Zoran Djindjic 81, 18000 Nis, Serbia"},{"name":"Center for Medical and Clinical Biochemistry, University Clinical Center Nis, Blvd. Zoran Djindjic 48, 18000 Nis, Serbia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-2599-7508","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Nikola","family":"Stefanovic","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Pharmacy, Medical Faculty, University of Nis, Blvd. Zoran Djindjic 81, 18000 Nis, Serbia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-9221-561X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Jelena","family":"Basic","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Biochemistry, Medical Faculty, University of Nis, Blvd. Zoran Djindjic 81, 18000 Nis, Serbia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-4521-1253","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Branka","family":"Djordjevic","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Biochemistry, Medical Faculty, University of Nis, Blvd. Zoran Djindjic 81, 18000 Nis, Serbia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0005-7048-5837","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Jana","family":"Kocic","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Biochemistry, Medical Faculty, University of Nis, Blvd. Zoran Djindjic 81, 18000 Nis, Serbia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-1464-833X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Branislav","family":"Apostolovic","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Clinic for Nephrology \u201cProf. Dr Spira Strahinjic\u201d, University Clinical Center Nis, Blvd. Zoran Djindjic 48, 18000 Nis, Serbia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-0257-0109","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Jelena","family":"Milenkovic","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Pathophysiology, Medical Faculty, University of Nis, Blvd. Zoran Djindjic 81, 18000 Nis, Serbia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Vladan","family":"Cosic","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Center for Medical and Clinical Biochemistry, University Clinical Center Nis, Blvd. Zoran Djindjic 48, 18000 Nis, Serbia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Tatjana","family":"Cvetkovic","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Biochemistry, Medical Faculty, University of Nis, Blvd. Zoran Djindjic 81, 18000 Nis, Serbia"},{"name":"Center for Medical and Clinical Biochemistry, University Clinical Center Nis, Blvd. Zoran Djindjic 48, 18000 Nis, Serbia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,24]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"165","DOI":"10.1016\/S0140-6736(11)60178-5","article-title":"Chronic kidney disease","volume":"379","author":"Levey","year":"2012","journal-title":"Lancet"},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Deng, L., Guo, S., Liu, Y., Zhou, Y., Liu, Y., Zheng, X., Yu, X., and Shuai, P. 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