Start/end date: 2 February 2026 – 2 January 2029
Funding Agency/Programme: Regione Autonoma Friuli Venezia Giulia – Direzione centrale salute, politiche sociali e disabilità. “Programma di interventi per la seprimentazione e successiva adozione di nuovi processi e modelli operativi e di interventi per la formazione, volti al miglioramento delle attività di prevenzione, della qualità delle cure e della riabilitazione, nonché all’ottimizzazione dell’utilizzo delle risorse dedicate” (DGR 1721/2022).
Partnership: Azienda Sanitaria Universitaria Friuli Centrale – ASUFC (coordinator); Fondazione Ri.MED (partner); Università degli studi di Padova (partner); AORN – Ospedali dei colli, Napoli (partner).
Abstract: Rejection remains one of the major complications following heart transplantation and requires continuous monitoring to ensure long-term graft survival and function. Endomyocardial biopsy (EMB) is currently considered the gold standard for the diagnosis of rejection; however, its invasive nature, limited sensitivity for detecting chronic rejection, and interobserver variability in histopathological interpretation limit its effectiveness as a long-term surveillance tool. Consequently, there is growing interest in the development of less invasive diagnostic approaches, including liquid biopsy. Liquid biopsy enables the integrated assessment of multiple circulating biomarkers associated with organ injury and immune activation. These include donor-derived circulating cell-free DNA (dd-cfDNA), markers of cardiac injury such as high-sensitivity troponin, gene expression profiles, extracellular vesicles, and circulating non-coding RNAs, including microRNAs. The combined analysis of these biomarkers offers the opportunity to more comprehensively characterize the biological processes underlying rejection and to detect early signs of graft injury. Building on these premises, the present multicenter observational study aims to integrate omics and clinical data using machine learning approaches to develop a multiparametric model capable of improving the early identification of patients at risk of rejection.
Ri.MED Scientific Coordinator: Simone Dario Scilabra (PI in Proteomics).
Il progetto “Integrazione di dati omici e clinici per personalizzare la cura del rigetto acuto e cronico nei pazienti sottoposti a trapianto di cuore” è stato realizzato con il finanziamento della Regione Autonoma Friuli Venezia Giulia.