Donor-Derived Cell-Free DNA as an Early Noninvasive Biomarker of Cardiac Allograft Injury and Rejection in Human Heart Transplant Recipients

Cardiac allograft rejection is currently monitored indirectly by evaluating graft function with clinical and laboratory parameters, but also histologically by evaluating endomyocardial biopsies (EMB) at regular intervals. EMB-sampling is invasive, and may result in complications, such as bleeding, pneumothorax, or cardiac tamponade. Furthermore, the biopsies represent only very small local histological area. As less invasive and more sensitive methods for detecting allograft injury and rejection are warranted, and donor-derived cell-free DNA (dd-cfDNA) detection from peripheral blood has been previously proposed as a feasible alternative method.
Source: The Journal of Heart and Lung Transplantation - Category: Transplant Surgery Authors: Tags: (743) Source Type: research