Clinical significance of troponin I efflux and troponin autoantibodies in patients with dilated cardiomyopathy.

Background: The appearance of circulating autoantibodies against cardiac troponin I (cTnAbs) in patients with heart failure has been reported. We sought to evaluate the role of circulating cardiac troponin I (cTnI) and cTnAbs in the pathophysiology and prognosis of idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy.

Methods And Results: Circulating concentrations of cTnI and the presence of cTnAbs were determined in 95 patients with idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy.

Prognostic role of pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokines and their polymorphisms in acute decompensated heart failure.

Background: Cytokines play an important role in chronic heart failure (HF), but little is known about their involvement in acute decompensated heart failure (ADHF).

Aim: To evaluate the prognostic role of inflammatory cytokines in patients with ADHF.

Methods: Levels of interleukin (IL)-6, tumour necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha), IL-10 and N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) were measured in 423 patients with ADHF.

Utility of plasma apelin and other indices of cardiac dysfunction in the clinical assessment of patients with dilated cardiomyopathy.

Apelin is a recently discovered peptide ligand reported to be involved in the regulation of cardiovascular homeostasis. The exact role of apelin in the pathophysiology of congestive heart failure has remained obscure, and the reported circulating levels of apelin in patients with heart failure have been contradictory. To establish the role of apelin in the assessment of cardiac dysfunction we measured plasma apelin levels in 65 patients with congestive heart failure caused by idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy (IDC) and 14 healthy volunteers by specific radioimmunoassay.