March 24, 2016 — The Foundation for the National Institutes of Health (FNIH) Biomarkers Consortium has launched a 4-year project to transform our ability to characterize risk for developing cardiovascular disease. The project is poised to improve identification and care of at-risk patients through a comprehensive investigation that will measure novel biomarkers in a national study consisting of more than 25,000 samples.

Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in the United States for men and women. To improve the ability of clinicians to make decisions on which patients are at most risk, researchers are looking to test several novel cardiovascular biomarkers that show promise at a reduced cost compared to the currently used imaging technology. Biomarkers specific to heart muscle function may help identify risk for cardiovascular disease better than traditional methods. The study will provide data to inform recommendations on the specific ranges for using these biomarkers to classify patients according to risk in the ambulatory setting and could be extended to other settings. Additionally, the study aims to describe the currently uncharacterized prevalence, distribution and association of the proposed biomarkers with risk factors in the general population, focusing on diabetes and kidney function.

Some of the specific biomarkers of focus for this study will include high-sensitivity cardiac troponin and N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) tests, which are serum biomarkers that can reflect previously undetected heart problems.

Funding Partners:

Abbott Diagnostics, AstraZeneca, Johnson & Johnson, National Dairy Council, Ortho Clinical Diagnostics, Roche Diagnostics Corporation, Siemens Healthcare.

For more information about this program, please visit: https://fnih.org/our-programs/biomarkers-consortium/programs/cardiac-troponin-project