Promoting OMICS for the non-invasive screening for subclinical arterial disease in heart transplant patients

Heart transplantation is the definitive therapy for patients with end-stage heart failure. Each year, over 5000 heart transplant procedures are performed worldwide. One of the main limitations to the long-term survival of heart transplant recipients is the diffuse narrowing of the coronary arteries, called cardiac allograft vasculopathy (CAV, also known as transplant coronary artery disease). The current routine surveillance methods of CAV are invasive and costly. Our goal is to investigate potential protein biomarkers as a non-invasive screening tool for detecting CAV early after heart transplantation. This clinical research project will validate previously identified protein biomarkers associated with CAV. Arterial phenotyping will be performed on heart transplant patients to assess for the presence of arterial thickening (indicating early CAV). We will subsequently evaluate the correlation of arterial phenotyping metrics with protein biomarkers collected from patients. Developing non-invasive, biomarker-based detection methods for CAV can significantly reduce costs and risk to heart transplant patients and allow for earlier treatment and better outcomes.

Faculty Supervisor:

Gavin Oudit

Student:

Partner:

Katholieke Universiteit Leuven

Discipline:

Life Sciences

Sector:

Education

University:

University of Alberta

Program: