Predictive role of pretransplant serum CXCL10 for cardiac acute rejection.
BACKGROUND
The detection of acute rejection in heart transplantation remains an important feature of transplant management, especially in the early phase. Frequent surveillance with endomyocardial biopsy is necessary, even though it is an invasive procedure and carries a certain risk. Hence, noninvasive biomarkers able to predict acute rejection could be a further helpful tool in patient management. The interferon-gamma-inducible chemokine CXCL10 is required for initiation and development of graft failure caused by acute or chronic rejection. It has been reported that CXCL10 serum level is predictive of graft loss in kidney graft recipients. In the present study, we investigated whether pretransplant CXCL10 serum level may be a predictive noninvasive biomarker in heart transplant (HTx) recipients, as well.


METHODS
Sera from 143 patients undergoing orthotopic heart transplantation were collected before surgery and tested for CXCL10 and CCL22 and compared with serum samples from healthy subjects.


RESULTS
We found that basal CXCL10 serum levels in HTx recipients were significantly higher than in healthy subjects, whereas no difference was seen in CCL22 levels. Among HTx recipients, CXCL10 serum levels of rejectors were significantly higher than in nonrejectors. Our results showed that CXCL10 was a significant independent risk factor of several variables and had the highest predictive value for early acute heart rejection, with 160 pg/mL cutoff value.


CONCLUSIONS
In HTx recipients, measurement of pretransplant CXCL10 serum levels could be a clinically useful tool for predicting cardiac acute rejection, especially in the early posttransplant period.
Crescioli
Clara
C
Excellence Center for Research, Transfer and High Education (DENOthe), Department of Clinical Pathophysiology, University of Florence, Florence, Italy. c.crescioli@dfc.unifi.it
Buonamano
Andrea
A
Scolletta
Sabino
S
Sottili
Mariangela
M
Francalanci
Michela
M
Giomarelli
Pierpaolo
P
Biagioli
Bonizella
B
Lisi
Gianfranco
G
Pradella
Fabio
F
Serio
Mario
M
Romagnani
Paola
P
Maccherini
Massimo
M
D000208:Acute Disease; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood; D009202:Cardiomyopathies / Q000276:immunology / Q000601:surgery*; D054422:Chemokine CCL22 / Q000097:blood; D054357:Chemokine CXCL10 / Q000097:blood*; D005260:Female; D006084:Graft Rejection / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000276:immunology; D016027:Heart Transplantation / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011300:Preoperative Care; D012372:ROC Curve; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012307:Risk Factors; D013997:Time Factors; D015854:Up-Regulation
D015415:Biomarkers; C515482:CCL22 protein, human; C114753:CXCL10 protein, human; D054422:Chemokine CCL22; D054357:Chemokine CXCL10