Heart allograft rejection: molecular diagnosis using intra-graft targeted gene expression profiling

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Tissular gene expression profiling applicable to formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded (FFPE) endomyocardial biopsies (EMBs) may refine the diagnosis of cardiac rejection while being easily implemented in clinical practice. This study aimed to develop and validate the first FFPE-based molecular diagnostic system dedicated to heart transplant rejection. METHODS: An international study was conducted (NCT06436027), establishing a deeply phenotyped cohort of heart transplant recipients. EMBs were graded according to international classifications, and gene expression was analysed on FFPE-EMBs using the Banff Human Organ Transplant Panel. Molecular classifiers for antibody-mediated rejection (AMR) and acute cellular rejection (ACR) were developed, with discrimination and calibration assessed in internal and external validation cohorts. RESULTS: A total of 671 biopsies were included, with 591 in the main cohort (AMR: n = 188, ACR: n = 289, matched non-rejection: n = 114); this was split into a derivation set (n = 475) and an internal validation set (n = 116). The external validation cohort comprised 80 biopsies (AMR: n = 20, ACR: n = 32, non-rejection: n = 28). AMR was associated with significant transcripts related to the interferon-gamma pathway, endothelial activation, and monocyte-macrophage recruitment, while ACR was characterized by transcripts related to T-cell receptor signalling, CD3 receptor activation, and CD28 signalling. Molecular ACR and AMR models accurately identified rejection in the validation cohorts (internal: ROC-AUC: AMR = 0.812, ACR = 0.849; external: ROC-AUC: AMR = 0.822, ACR = 0.815) and were strongly associated with pathologic severity. Calibration was adequate. An automated report was developed to enhance the clinical applicability of these classifiers. CONCLUSIONS: A novel FFPE-based molecular diagnostic system accurately identified cardiac allograft rejection. This tool is readily applicable in clinical practice as a companion to pathology and has the potential to refine the diagnosis of rejection.