AFISBIO II

Atrial Fibrillation onset in relationship to plasma Biomarkers


Multicenter study aimed to clarify the relationship between various circulating substances in blood and a form of heart arrhythmia called atrial fibrillation.

atrial fibrillation

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common sustained arrhythmia, inherently associated with an increased risk of stroke, heart failure and mortality. Danger of this disease is further increased by the fact that it may often be asymptomatic, rendering early detection very problematic. A quick and reliable diagnostic blood test would therefore be a major turning point in management of these patients.

Clinical objective of AFISBIO study is to identify plasmatic biomarkers capable of assessing the risk of atrial fibrillation.

Originality of the project lies, among other things, in the analysis of circulating microRNAs.

study design

AFISBIO I study was designed to include high-risk patients with atrial fibrillation and several cardiovascular comorbidities.

The reason for such design was to clarify whether these biomarkers were specific only to atrial fibrillation or whether they reflected the pathophysiological mechanisms present in other cardiovascular diseases.

We therefore chose to compare the group of patients with atrial fibrillation to control group. The only difference between them being the presence of atrial fibrillation (propensity matching design).

AFISBIO II study will include only patients without history of AF, but with high risk for ischemic stroke and AF.

Main goals

1. Identify novel plasmatic biomarkers associated with incident atrial fibrillation in patients with high risk for atrial fibrillation and stroke.

2. Assess predictive ability of novel plasmatic biomarkers (Apelin & miRNAs) on incident AF in patients with high risk for AF and stroke.

3. Validate predictive models from previous studies based on comorbidities, age, sex, BMI, NT-proBNP, FGF-23, IGF-1 and IGFBP-1 on incident AF in patients with high risk for AF and stroke.


NOVEL PLASMATIC MARKERS

microRNAs

In recent years, circulating microRNAs have emerged as promising markers of atrial fibrillation. They play an important role in suppressing mediator RNA activity and regulating gene expression.

Other protein biomarkers

Insulin-like growth factor-binding protein 1 (IGFBP-1) and Insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) have been shown to be associated with higher risk of incident AF.

Previous research also indicated Fibroblast growth factor 23 (FGF-23) to be associated with AF.