Background

In this study, we measured immunoglobulin free light chains (FLC), a biomarker of inflammation in the sera of patients with heart failure due to myocarditis.

Methods

FLC kappa and FLC lambda were assayed in stored serum samples from patients with heart failure with myocarditis from the US myocarditis treatment trial by a competitive-inhibition multiplex Luminex® assay.

Results

The median concentration of circulating FLC kappa/lambda ratio was significantly lower in the sera from patients with heart failure with myocarditis than in healthy controls, and FLC kappa/lambda ratio had good diagnostic ability for identification of heart failure with myocarditis. Further, FLC kappa/lambda ratio was an independent prognostic factor for overall survival, and allowed creation of three prognostic groups by combining with N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide.

Conclusions

This study suggests that FLC kappa/lambda ratio is a promising biomarker of heart failure with myocarditis.

中文翻译：

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免疫球蛋白游离轻链是心肌炎心力衰竭的炎症生物标志物。

背景

在这项研究中，我们测量了无免疫球蛋白轻链（FLC），这是心肌炎导致心力衰竭患者血清中炎症的生物标记。

方法

在美国心肌炎治疗试验中，通过竞争抑制多重测定法在储存的来自患有心肌炎心力衰竭的心肌炎患者的血清样品中测定了FLCκ和FLCλ。

结果

患有心肌炎的心力衰竭患者的血清中循环FLCκ/λ比的中值浓度显着低于健康对照组，并且FLCκ/λ比对心肌炎性心力衰竭具有良好的诊断能力。此外，FLCκ/λ比是整体生存的独立预后因素，并通过与N末端pro-B型利钠肽结合而创建三个预后组。

结论

这项研究表明，FLCκ/λ比是心肌炎心力衰竭的有前途的生物标志物。