Serum biomarkers of acute rejection: Towards precision medicine in heart transplant

J Heart Lung Transplant. 2021 Oct;40(10):1090-1097. doi: 10.1016/j.healun.2021.07.002. Epub 2021 Jul 10.

Abstract

Despite the important changes in the management of heart transplantation in the recent decades, the use of endomyocardial biopsy is still necessary for the follow-up of these patients. However, this technique has several limitations, the most important being the substantial interobserver variability. In the last years multiple attempts have been made to find non-invasive assays for cardiac allograft surveillance, such as imaging modalities and serum biomarkers. This state-of-the-art review focuses on describing the different serum biomarkers that have been proposed for non-invasive diagnosis of acute rejection and that are paving the way towards precision medicine in the field of heart transplantation.

Keywords: acute rejection; heart transplant; non-invasive testing.

Publication types

  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Acute Disease
  • Allografts
  • Biomarkers / blood*
  • Biopsy
  • Graft Rejection / blood*
  • Graft Rejection / diagnosis
  • Heart Transplantation / adverse effects*
  • Humans
  • Myocardium / pathology
  • Precision Medicine / trends*

Substances

  • Biomarkers