Donor-derived cell-free DNA as a new biomarker for cardiac allograft rejection

Background: There is a long-standing need for a noninvasive biomarker that allows monitoring of cardiac allograft rejection, avoiding the need for periodic endomyocardial biopsies (EMB). Methods: Multicenter, observational, prospective study, performed between 2019 and 2023 (NCT 04973943). All patie...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Jiménez-Blanco, M., Crespo-Leiro, Maria Generosa|||0000-0002-3085-167X, García-Cosío Carmena, M.D., Gómez Bueno, M., López-Vilella, Raquel, Ortiz-Bautista, C.|||0000-0002-4874-715X, Farrero, Marta|||0000-0002-2404-8821, Zegrí-Reiriz, Isabel|||0000-0001-9742-8537, Díaz-Molina, Beatriz|||0000-0002-7773-8121, García Romero, Elena|||0000-0003-4090-6571, Rangel Sousa, Diego|||0000-0003-2435-0155, Salterain, N.|||0000-0002-8441-2875, Garrido Bravo, I., Segovia, Javier|||0000-0002-4606-3416
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2025
País:España
Institución:Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona
Repositorio:Dipòsit Digital de Documents de la UAB
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:ddd.uab.cat:322612
Acceso en línea:https://ddd.uab.cat/record/322612
https://dx.doi.org/urn:doi:10.1016/j.healun.2024.11.009
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:NTproBNP
Acute cardiac rejection
Biomarkers
Donor-derived cell-free DNA
Heart transplantation
Descripción
Sumario:Background: There is a long-standing need for a noninvasive biomarker that allows monitoring of cardiac allograft rejection, avoiding the need for periodic endomyocardial biopsies (EMB). Methods: Multicenter, observational, prospective study, performed between 2019 and 2023 (NCT 04973943). All patients underwent 7 per-protocol surveillance EMB during the first postheart transplantation year. Donor-derived cell-free DNA (dd-cfDNA) levels were determined before each EMB, using Next Generation Sequencing Technology (Allonext assay, Eurofins Genome). The primary end-point was the association between dd-cfDNA levels and the presence of acute cellular rejection (ACR) in EMB. Results: The study included 206 patients from 12 centers, with 1,090 pairs of EMB/dd-cfDNA determinations available for analysis. EMB with ACR (n = 49) were associated with dd-cfDNA levels significantly higher than those without, median 0.189% (interquartilic range 0.05-0.70) vs 0.095% (0.04-0.23), p = 0.013. A dd-cfDNA threshold of 0.10% showed a negative predictive value for ACR of 97%. A statistically significant association between N-terminal prohormone of brain (NTProBNP) and dd-cfDNA was also found, with an increase of 0.007% dd-cfDNA (95% confidence interval 0.003-0.011) for every 500 units of NTproBNP, p 0.001. The combination of both biomarkers for diagnosis of ACR showed an area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve of 0.681, and this combined approach was significantly better than dd-cfDNA alone (area under the ROC curve 0.603), p = 0.016. Using a cut-off point of 0.10% for dd-cfDNA and 1,000 UI/ml for NTproBNP, negative predictive value increased to 98.1%. Conclusions: dd-cfDNA may be a useful biomarker to rule out significant ACR in a low-risk population. However, a dd-cfDNA value above normal threshold does not correlate robustly with the presence of disease. The combination with NTproBNP, a readily available biomarker, increased the discrimination power of dd-cfDNA alone. Clinical Trial Notation: Donor-derived Cell-Free DNA as a New Biomarker in Cardiac Acute Rejection, NCT 04973943.