October 29, 2008 - Critical Diagnostics today announced the publication of a research paper and an accompanying editorial comment further refining the clinical value and risk of mortality prediction power of the cardiac biomarker soluble ST2 (sST2).
The research paper, “Characteristics of the Novel Interleukin Family Biomarker ST2 in Patients with Acute Heart Failure” and editorial comment “Serum Soluble ST2 as a Biochemical Marker of Acute Heart Failure” was published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, Oct. 28. The result of this latest study expands understanding of this biomarker in patients with acute destabilized heart failure (ADHF), further refining the clinical value of sST2 in these patients.
The study analyzed 346 patients diagnosed with ADHF derived from two previously reported prospective clinical trials of dyspneic emergency department patients. This study confirms previously reported results that sST2 powerfully predicts mortality, independent of established clinical and biochemical predictors in this setting. Senior author on this paper, Dr. James L. Januzzi, associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, and physician in the division of cardiology at the Massachusetts General Hospital where he is also the chief of the coronary care unit, added, “What is interesting to us are the emerging data linking sST2 to a wide range of cardiovascular diseases, including coronary artery disease and heart failure. On a biological level ST2 appears to play a pivotal role in the complications stemming from both states, which raises the question of an entirely new avenue of exploration for cardiac therapeutics. Furthermore, the clinical value of sST2 measurement appears established - together with testing for conventional markers such as natriuretic peptides, sST2 adds clear, solid value for assessing risk; with this better ability to recognize risk will follow more opportunity for timely and correct intervention, and the hope to better reduce the potential for complications.”
Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in the U.S. and the incidence of heart failure, as a form of cardiovascular disease, is increasing. The research described in this paper confirms that sST2 is a powerful and accurate biomarker for prediction of near term mortality in ADHF patients and its clinical use may lead to improvements in patient care.
For more information: www.criticaldiagnostics.com, www.jacc.org
October 09, 2019 
