Genetic Test Can Detect Heart Transplant Rejection

A simple blood test can detect whether heart transplant patients are rejecting their donated heart, and it may also reduce the need for invasive heart-muscle biopsies, a new study has found. The study was led by New York-Presbyterian Hospital and Columbia University Medical Center. It analyzed data from patients in the four-year Cardiac Allograft Rejection Gene Expression Observational Study (CARGO), conducted at eight U.S. transplant centers. The study looked at a gene expression test called AlloMapT molecular expression testing, which provides information about 20 genes representing molecular pathways in white blood cells found to be associated with heart transplant rejection, as well as information about control genes. The researchers found that the AlloMap test appeared able to distinguish heart transplant patients who were rejecting their new heart from patients who weren't. The study found that patients with a low AlloMap score had less than 1 percent chance of rejection. The findings appeared in the Dec. 19 issue of the American Journal of Transplantation.