Circulation: Heart Failure. 2008;1:258-264
Published online before print October 14, 2008,
doi: 10.1161/CIRCHEARTFAILURE.108.790774
CLINICAL PERSPECTIVE
Detection of Endogenous B-Type Natriuretic Peptide at Very Low Concentrations in Patients With Heart Failure
Eric E. Niederkofler, PhD
;
Urban A. Kiernan, PhD
;
Jessica O'Rear, MS
;
Santosh Menon, MD
;
Syed Saghir, MD
;
Andrew A. Protter, PhD
;
Randall W. Nelson, PhD
and
Ute Schellenberger, PhD
From the Scios Inc (J.O., U.S.), Mountain View, Calif; Intrinsic Bioprobes Inc (E.E.N., U.A.K., R.W.N.), Tempe, Ariz; Christ Hospital (S.M., S.S.), Cincinnati, Ohio; and Medivation Inc (A.A.P.), San Francisco, Calif.
Correspondence to Ute Schellenberger, PhD, Pioneer HiBred International, Inc, 700 A Bay Road. Redwood City, CA 94063. E-mail uschellenberger{at}gmail.com
Received May 6, 2008; accepted September 23, 2008.
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Abstract
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Background— The myocardium secretes B-type natriuretic
peptide (BNP) in response to stimuli associated with heart failure
(HF). However, high immunoreactive-BNP levels in patients with
HF are associated with a paradoxical lack of natriuretic response.
We hypothesized that commercially available assays for immunoreactive
BNP do not reflect the bioactivity of the natriuretic peptide
system, because they measure both unprocessed inactive pro-BNP
and mature BNP 1-32. We describe an assay for the detection
of bioactive BNP 1-32 and confirm very low concentrations in
plasma from HF patients.
Methods and Results— We developed a quantitative mass spectrometry immunoassay to capture endogenous BNP peptides using high affinity antibodies. Bound BNP and its truncated fragments were detected by matrix assisted laser desorption ionization–time of flight mass spectrometry based on their predicted masses. Mass spectrometry immunoassay revealed rapid in vitro degradation of BNP 1-32 in plasma, which requires plasma collection in the presence of high protease inhibitor concentrations. In 11 of 12 HF patients BNP 1-32 was detectable, ranging from 25 to 43 pg/mL. Several degraded forms of BNP were also detected at similarly low levels. In contrast, parallel measurements of immunoreactive BNP using the Biosite assay ranged from 900 to 5000 pg/mL.
Conclusions— Detection of endogenous BNP 1-32 requires special preservation of plasma samples. Mass spectrometry immunoassay technology demonstrates that HF patients have low levels of BNP 1-32. Commercially available immunoreactive-BNP assays overrepresent biological activity of the natriuretic peptide system because they cannot distinguish between active and inactive forms. This observation may, in part, explain the "natriuretic paradox."
Key Words: natriuretic peptides diagnosis circulation heart failure mass spectrometry
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Introduction
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B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP) is a cardiac hormone with mostly
ventricular expression under conditions of volume overload and
increased filling pressure.
1–3 BNP is synthesized as a
108-aa propeptide and proteolytically processed to release an
inactive 76-aa N-terminal fragment and bioactive mature BNP
1-32 into the bloodstream. Commercially available assays have
proven utility for the diagnosis of heart failure (HF) with
high specificity.
4,5 At the same time, recombinant BNP 1-32
(nesiritide) has been approved for treatment of acute decompensated
congestive HF; infusions of nesiritide lead to prompt symptomatic
improvement in acutely ill HF patients.
6,7 The seemingly paradoxical
lack of natriuretic response to the high endogenous immunoreactive
BNP (iBNP) levels as determined by commercially available assays
has led investigators to hypothesize that altered and inactive
circulating forms of BNP exist in HF patients.
8–10 Indeed,
experimental evidence suggests multiple molecular forms of BNP
in HF patient plasma.
11–14 Recent publications have shown
that the intact precursor pro-BNP 1-108 is a major circulating
component in HF patients, suggesting impaired processing mechanisms
in the HF state.
9,15 Moreover, pro-BNP has no
16 or significantly
reduced bioactivity compared with BNP 1-32,
9 yet cross-reacts
in commercial immunoassays because of common epitopes.
9 Direct
measurements of BNP 1-32 has been attempted by mass spectrometry
17 and a combination of solid phase extraction, high-performance
liquid chromatography, and immunodetection.
11,12,18 Neither
approach was able to detect the presence of the active BNP form,
supporting the hypothesis of a somehow altered iBNP in HF patient
samples. We describe a sensitive and quantitative mass spectrometry
immunoassay (MSIA)
19,20 to successfully measure BNP 1-32 in
HF patients. We also present direct structural evidence for
several proteolytically degraded forms of BNP in these patients.
Further, we show that iBNP levels as detected by the Biosite
Triage (Biosite Inc, San Diego, Calif) assay significantly overestimate
the levels of bioactive, low molecular weight BNP, including
BNP 1-32.
Clinical Perspective p 264
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Methods
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Materials
Protease inhibitors were from Calbiochem (4-(2-aminoethyl) benzenesulfonyl
fluoride [AEBSF], benzamidine, pepstatin, H-Phe-Phe-Arg-chloromethylketone
(PPACK II), protease inhibitor set III and VII) and Sigma (Leupeptin,
aprotinin). The buffers HBS-N (0.01 mol/L HEPES, pH 7.4, containing
0.15 mol/L NaCl) and HBS-EP (0.01 mol/L HEPES, pH 7.4, containing
3 mmol/L EDTA, 0.15 mol/L NaCl, and 0.005% Tween20) were both
from Biacore AB. Tween 20 and

-cyano-4-hydroxycinnamic acid
were provided by Sigma-Aldrich. Sodium chloride, ammonium acetate,
acetonitrile, trifluoroacetic acid, and ultrapure water were
all purchased from American Bioanalytical, and n-octyl glucoside
was from Roche Diagnostics. Recombinant human BNP 1-32 was from
Scios, Inc. All other BNP peptides were synthesized by the American
Peptide Company with >95% purity. The concentration of all
peptide stock solutions was determined by amino acid analysis
(UC Davis, Calif). Monoclonal mouse antibodies against human
BNP, Mab 8.1 and Mab 106.3 were produced by Scios Inc. Mab 8.1
was described elsewhere and requires an intact C-terminus of
BNP 1-32,
9 whereas full-length BNP 1-32 was used to develop
Mab 106.3 and the epitope was mapped to amino acids 5 to 13
(Jessica ORear, unpublished data, 2006).
Mass Spectrometry Immunoassay
MSIA protein extraction was achieved using antibody derivatized affinity pipettes (Intrinsic Bioprobes, Inc). These affinity pipettes or MSIA-Tips were produced as described previously.21 A mixture of equal concentrations (45 µg/mL) of Mabs 8.1 and 106.3 were used as the affinity ligand. For nonspecific MSIA affinity tips an unrelated antibody against antihuman β2-microglobulin (β2M, DakoCytomation) was coupled.
Plasma was thawed at room temperature and incubated at 37°C for 10 minutes. Warmed plasma was centrifuged at 5000g, 500 µL aliquots were transferred into a 96-well sample tray. Biotinylated BNP (bBNP) 1-32 was added to each well at a final concentration of 500 pg/mL to serve as an internal reference for MSIA.22 Samples were diluted 2-fold with HBS-EP, containing 1% Tween20 and 1 mol/L NaCl before MSIA.
Analyses of spiked standard curve samples, HF samples, and healthy control samples were performed in parallel. The workflow is depicted in Figure 1. Samples (1 mL) were first drawn 50 times through β2M affinity tips by automated aspiration/dispensing of 150 µL, followed by 300 times through BNP affinity tips. Next, each affinity tip was rinsed sequentially with HBS-EP, water, 25% acetonitrile in 2 mol/L ammonium acetate, 50 mmol/L n-octyl glucoside, and water (15 aspirations/dispenses at 150 µL for each step). Bound proteins were eluted from the affinity tip with 3.5 µL of matrix assisted laser desorption ionization (MALDI) matrix solution (6 mg/mL
-cyano-4-hydroxycinnamic acid in acetonitrile/water (1:2 vol/vol) with 0.8% trifluoroacetic acid) and deposited directly onto the MALDI-target.22 Mass spectra were acquired for each eluent by summing six 250-laser shot acquisitions using a linear Bruker Autoflex MALDI–time of flight (TOF) mass spectrometer. Resulting mass spectra were batch processed in Flex Analysis 2.4 (Bruker Daltonics) to label all spectral peaks with a signal-to-noise >20 and to internally calibrate the m/z axis using bBNP. In addition, spectral intensities were normalized to the peak intensities of bBNP for intersample comparison and quantification. Peak lists, containing peak characteristics (m/z, signal-to-noise, normalized intensities) were imported into spreadsheets for data analysis.

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Figure 1. Workflow for MSIA of HF patient and normal control plasma. Samples were stepwise incubated with a non-BNP antibody MSIA tip followed by a BNP-antibody tip. Bound nonspecific and BNP-specific peptides were washed and eluted onto the same MALDI target for MALDI–TOF mass spectrometry detection. In parallel, the standard BNP peptide mixture was run with a BNP specific MSIA tip. For normalization biotinylated BNP (IRS) was added to each sample before extraction.
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Data Analysis
MSIA peak lists were screened for m/z values matching the m/z
values calculated for theoretical BNP fragments. We assumed
an intact disulfide bond between Cys15 and Cys26. We also considered
Met oxidation in one or both positions as a possible posttranslational
modification. Last, we based the hypothetical peak list on the
specificity of Mabs 8.1 and 106.3 and their known epitopes.
MSIA mass peaks with a signal-to-noise of

20 and a mass error
of

212 ppm, compared with the theoretical mass were identified.
Mass error tolerance was calculated by dividing the difference
between the theoretical mass and the experimental mass by the
theoretical mass. For BNP peptides for which a standard curve
was generated, concentrations were calculated based on their
peak intensities normalized to the internal reference standard
(IRS) bBNP.
Plasma Sample Collection
The study was approved by the Institutional Review Board at Christ Hospital, Cincinnati. Blood samples from 12 New York Heart Association functional class III and IV HF patients were collected into EDTA vacutainers and transferred immediately after centrifugation into storage tubes containing benzamidine and AEBSF (final inhibitor concentrations 10 mmol/L and 5 mmol/L, respectively) and stored at –70°C. Patients with Biosite Triage BNP assay results of >750 pg/mL were enrolled (Biosite Inc). Patient information is summarized in Table 1. Plasma from 10 consenting healthy volunteers was collected from the Lifescan Inc blood center (Milpitas, Calif) under identical conditions. Biosite Triage assay iBNP levels from these control subjects varied from <5 to 29 pg/mL.
The authors had full access to the data and take responsibility
for its integrity. All authors have read and agree to the manuscript
as written.
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Results
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Rapid Degradation of BNP 1-32 in Human Plasma
Previous evidence suggests that proteases in the circulation
degrade BNP after secretion.
21,22 We reasoned, therefore, that
plasma collection conditions are crucial to preserve the structural
integrity of any BNP forms that might be present in HF patients
at the point of sampling. To study the kinetics of proteolytic
degradation of BNP 1-32 in human plasma and the resulting degradation
products, we developed a highly sensitive and quantitative MSIA.
19,20 MSIA uses covalent solid phase coupling of 2 high-affinity monoclonal
antibodies against different epitopes of BNP 1-32 to allow for
the capture of C- and N-terminal truncated forms of BNP 1-32.
The antibody loaded resin is contained within a small pipette
tip, which is crucial for efficient binding, washing, and elution
without significant sample loss. Eluted peptides are spotted
directly onto a MALDI sample plate and analyzed. The principle
of MSIA is depicted in
Figure 1.
Figure 2 shows the time course
of BNP 1-32 degradation spiked at 10 ng/mL into heparin plasma
from a healthy volunteer. Incubation was carried out at 37°C
to simulate degradation in vivo. A rapid disappearance of the
intact BNP 1-32 peptide can be observed. After 10 minutes the
mass spectrum shows new peaks that can be assigned to BNP 3-32,
BNP 1-30, BNP 3-30, BNP 3-29, and the isobaric pair BNP 1-29/4-31.
As the starting material continues to be degraded, the ratio
of BNP 3-32 and BNP 1-32 increases and new degradation products
appear at 15 and 30 minutes, eg, BNP 4-29, BNP 5-29. After 1
hour almost no BNP 1-32 is detectable. Similar degradation was
observed when BNP was spiked into whole blood, before plasma
preparation and MSIA analysis (data not shown). We also tested
BNP degradation in EDTA plasma, which had no effect on the rapid
transformation of BNP 1-32 to 3-32, but slowed down further
conversion significantly (data not shown). The same was true
for incubation at 4°C, which slowed degradation only somewhat.
We concluded that commonly used collection conditions are inefficient
to prevent BNP 1-32 degradation during and after sample collection.

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Figure 2. Time course for BNP 1-32 hydrolysis in heparin plasma. The peptide was added at 10 ng/mL and allowed to incubate at 37°C for 1 hour. Aliquots were removed and analyzed by BNP-MSIA as described in Materials and Methods section.
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Inhibition of Protease Activity
BNP 1-32 was shown to be an efficient substrate for dipeptidyl
peptidase IV, which leads to rapid formation of BNP 3-32 as
assessed by mass spectrometry.
23 In addition, Kallikrein-like
activities have previously been implicated in the C-terminal
degradation of BNP 1-32 as assessed by immunoassay.
24 To minimize
the effect of protease degradation after blood sampling we tested
a broad range of inhibitors individually and in combination
using MSIA. In a typical experiment 10 ng/mL of BNP 1-32 were
added to normal EDTA plasma in the presence of 1 or several
protease inhibitors. We found no or little effect of 0.5 mmol/L
bestatin, 0.1 mmol/L pepstatin A, and up to 1 mmol/L E64. PPACK
I and II at 1 mmol/L effectively prevented degradation at the
C terminus but did not inhibit dipeptidyl peptidase activity
at the N terminus. AEBSF, leupeptin, and benzamindine were tested
up to 5 mmol/L individually and in various combinations. A mixture
of AEBSF and leupeptin at 2.5 mmol/L each was determined to
be most effective. An alternative inhibitor for leupeptin was
benzamidine, 10 mmol/L of which prevented degradation of BNP
1-32 in combination with 5 mmol/L AEBSF.
Figure 3A shows BNP
1-32 stability in EDTA plasma stored at room temperature in
the presence of effective protease inhibitor concentrations
for up to 2 hours. We also tested whether these protease inhibitors
were effective when added 10 minutes after the addition of exogenous
BNP 1-32 to allow for some degradation to BNP 3-32.
Figure 3B
shows long-term stability of such treated samples for up to
6 months, when stored at –70°C.

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Figure 3. Prevention of BNP 1-32 hydrolysis. A, EDTA plasma from a healthy donor was spiked with 10 ng/mL of BNP 1-32 in the presence of 10 mmol/L benzamidine and 5 mmol/L AEBSF. Incubation was carried out at room temperature. B, Both protease inhibitors were added 10 minutes after the BNP spike into plasma. At that point a plasma aliquot was frozen and stored at –70°C. Six-month stability of this sample was assessed by MSIA.
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Quantitative MSIA Assay Development
Based on initial qualitative MSIA screening of HF patient plasma
samples we synthesized BNP peptides with N- and C-terminal truncations.
These peptides (BNP 1-32, BNP 3-32, BNP 2-31, BNP 4-32, BNP
5-32, BNP 5-31, BNP 4-30, and BNP 4-27) were added at equimolar
concentrations to normal plasma to generate external standard
curves for each peptide. MSIA achieved a sensitivity of 3.1
pmol/L for each peptide (lower level of quantification) with
a signal-to-noise ratio of >35 even at the lowest concentration.
This corresponds to roughly 10 pg/mL of BNP 1-32 and slightly
lower pg/mL concentrations for the shorter peptides, depending
on their molecular weights. Further, we included an N-terminally
biotinylated BNP 1-32 (bBNP) at 500 pg/mL as an IRS to account
for potential variations associated with both the affinity purification
and MALDI processes. By choosing an IRS with a higher molecular
weight compared with BNP 1-32, we avoided any overlap with naturally
occurring BNP fragments in the mass spectrum.
Figure 4A shows
a typical standard curve for 3 of the 8 standard BNP peptides.
We observed a nonlinear relationship, reflecting binding behavior
of the BNP antibodies to the various BNP peptides during the
MSIA process at very low peptide concentrations. Panel B depicts
4 mass spectra of the standard peptide mixture at 6.25, 25,
100, and 400 pmol/L, respectively. In all samples, the IRS was
present at 500 pg/mL. Different ion intensities observed for
different peptides relative to the IRS reflect different ionization
efficiencies of each peptide and can thus be normalized.

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Figure 4. Quantitative BNP-MSIA. A, Peptide standard curves for BNP 1-32, BNP 3-32, and BNP 4-32 peptides are shown, ranging from 3.1 to 400 pmol/L. Polynomial regression analysis was performed to fit the data. A polynomial model of the second order provided the best fit. B, Raw MALDI–TOF mass spectra showing 4 concentrations, eg, 400, 100, 25, and 6.2 pmol/L. The standard peptide mixture consists of equimolar concentrations of the following peptides: BNP 1-32, BNP 3-32, BNP 2-31, BNP 4-32, BNP 5-32, BNP 5-31, BNP 4-30, and BNP 4-27. Each sample contains the IRS at 500 pg/mL for relative quantification.
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Plasma Concentrations of BNP 1-32 and Related Fragments
After informed consent, we prospectively collected plasma with
the inclusion of appropriate protease inhibitors benzamidine
and AEBSF from 12 patients who had advanced HF. Each sample
was analyzed by a 2-step MSIA as illustrated in
Figure 1, with
the inclusion of the IRS and external standard curves. We also
analyzed 10 confirmed healthy donor samples. The resulting peak
lists from all MSIA runs were scrutinized for the presence of
predicted BNP-related peptides as described under Materials
and Methods section. Mass peaks were assigned based on predicted
masses for BNP peptide fragments. Of note, mass peaks observed
in either the normal controls or the MSIA extractions using
the control antibody could not be assigned to any BNP-related
peptide, validating the high specificity of the MSIA approach
with BNP monoclonal antibodies 8.1 and 106.3.
Figure 5 shows
representative mass spectra from 2 HF patients and 2 normal
controls after BNP specific extraction. The quantitative results
for all 12 HF samples are summarized in
Table 2. In 11 of 12
patients we measured low levels of intact BNP 1-32 ranging from
25 to 43 pg/mL. BNP 3-32, BNP 4-32, and BNP 5-32 were present
in all patients. In some patients, we detected small amounts
of methionine-oxidized BNP 3-32, BNP 4-32, and BNP 5-32. BNP
peptides with C-terminal truncations could also be assigned
in 3 patients (
Figure 5) but were not quantifiable because they
were below the levels of quantification.
Comparison With Triage Biosite BNP Assay
Samples from all HF patients were analyzed using the Triage
Biosite BNP assay at study enrollment and blood sample collection.
Figure 6 highlights the differences between the iBNP concentrations
obtained with the Biosite assay and the sum of all BNP fragments
determined by MSIA. We did not include patients 2, 4, and 6
in this comparison, because we were unable to quantify the C-terminally
truncated BNP peptides in these samples.

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Figure 6. Comparison of total BNP levels as determined by the Triage Biosite assay (white bars) and MSIA (black bars). All BNP fragments detected and quantified by MSIA as shown in Table 2 were added together for this figure to represent the total amount of low molecular weight BNP.
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Discussion
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Our data lend further support to the hypothesis that high levels
of iBNP as measured in a commercial point of care (POC) assay
do not reflect the bioactivity of the natriuretic peptide system.
Yandle et al
14 first showed the presence of circulating unprocessed
pro-BNP 1-108 in HF patients. We and others found that recombinantly
expressed pro-BNP has significantly reduced
9 or no activity
at all,
16 and we provided Western blot evidence that pro-BNP
constitutes a major plasma component in HF patients.
9 Similarly,
Seferian et al
15 measured pro-BNP: BNP ratios of up to 10.8:1
in patients with HF. Further, because the epitopes are preserved
in pro-BNP, we have also shown that at least 2 of the commercial
POC assays for BNP cross-react with the inactive precursor.
9 Other investigators have attempted direct detection of active
BNP 1-32 using different extraction and detection methods, including
mass spectrometry.
11,17 In our study, we were able to quantify
active BNP 1-32, for the first time, in 11 of 12 patients diagnosed
with HF. Our unique approach to capture circulating BNP peptides
with high affinity monoclonal antibodies, coupled with high
sensitivity MALDI–TOF mass spectrometry detection allowed
us to study the molecular complexity of BNP degradation in human
plasma. We found that effective protease inhibition is crucial
to preserve the structural integrity of BNP 1-32 during and
after blood collection. Although commonly used EDTA anticoagulation
tubes are sufficient to preserve iBNP,
25–27 additional
inhibitors in the millimolar range are required for complete
protease inactivation. This may explain why other investigators
were unable to detect and quantify BNP 1-32 in vivo.
The presence of BNP 3-32 attributable to action of dipeptidyl peptidases has been suggested,23 and we were able to detect this BNP analog in every single patient we studied. We also detected further proteolysed BNP peptides, eg, BNP 4-32, BNP 5-32, BNP 5-31, BNP 1-25, and BNP 1-26. We tested the bioactivity of each of these peptides in a cell-based assay measuring cGMP production9 and found no differences compared with BNP 1-32 (Jessica ORear, unpublished data, 2007). As has been shown for BNP 3-32, one can only speculate that even shorter peptides may have reduced natriuretic activity in vivo, despite their apparent in vitro activity.28 Even assuming activity, the sum of all BNP peptides measured in every patient by MSIA would still represent only a fraction of the total iBNP measured by the Biosite assay (Figure 6). The BNP antibodies used in our MSIA also bind pro-BNP. Although we verified that the presence of up to 10 ng/mL of recombinant pro-BNP does not interfere with the quantification of low molecular weight BNP forms, we were unable to quantify endogenous pro-BNP levels with this MSIA method (Eric Niederkofler, unpublished data, 2007). Mass spectrometry is uniquely suited to detect and quantify multiple forms of endogenous BNP, and our results highlight the need for more specific clinical immunoassays to address questions of abnormal pro-BNP processing and to provide an accurate measure of bioactive BNP concentrations.
The presence of BNP fragments with one oxidized methionine residue is also noteworthy. Although it is possible to introduce methionine oxidation during sample preparation and MALDI,29 we observed this modification only in patient samples and never in our standard peptides or spiked plasma samples. Posttranslational oxidation might be a reflection of oxidative stress, a hallmark of cardiac disease. The exact site and role of this modification needs to be further studied, but we have previously shown that modification of Met10 leads to inactivation of BNP 1-32 (Andy Protter, unpublished data, 2002).
In summary, the data from our study strongly suggest that concentrations of bioactive BNP 1-32 are very low in patients with symptomatic HF. Commercial POC assays measure very high iBNP levels presumably due to a large molar excess of cross-reacting unprocessed pro-BNP. Although the small patient number was insufficient to establish a relation between HF stage and specific hormone levels, our findings may help to explain the paradoxical lack of physiological natriuretic hormone response in HF patients, especially in the acutely decompensated state, and why infusion with bioactive BNP 1-32 (nesiritide) generally provides symptomatic relief.
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Acknowledgments
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The authors thank Dr Roger Mills for critical reading of this
manuscript, his helpful advice, and general support of this
project. Further, the authors acknowledge Dr Jan Scardina and
Pat Hummel for the production of monoclonal BNP antibodies 8.1
and 106.3.
Disclosures
Dr Menon is a consultant and shareholder of CHF Solutions Inc.
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CLINICAL PERSPECTIVE
The important physiologic actions of the natriuretic peptide system become attenuated in the setting of advanced heart failure. This process is complex and involves multiple mechanisms. We developed a uniquely sensitive mass spectrometry-based method for the specific detection of endogenous forms of B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP). We also established rigorous patient plasma sampling methods allowing precise analysis and showed that structural preservation of endogenous BNP forms requires unusually high concentrations of protease inhibitors. This enabled us to detect and quantify BNP 1-32, as well as multiple other forms of BNP, in plasma from 12 patients with advanced heart failure. All patients in our study had markedly elevated endogenous immunoreactive BNP levels, as assessed with the Biosite POC assay. In contrast, the actual BNP 1-32 levels in the patients were very low. Our data confirm that currently available diagnostic BNP assays do not assess the levels of biologically active BNP. We also demonstrated the presence of shorter proteolytically processed forms of BNP 1-32. The clinical significance of these forms remains to be investigated. The well-documented clinical utility of rapid BNP immunoassays remains unchallenged; however, our data help to explain the blunting of the expected physiologic responses to apparently high levels of BNP. We hypothesize that some patients with advanced heart failure may actually be in a state of natriuretic peptide deficiency and may benefit from exogenous administration of recombinant BNP 1-32. Our data provide novel insights that provide strong support for the hypothesis of inefficient prohormone processing in advanced heart failure.
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G. Boerrigter, L. C. Costello-Boerrigter, G. J. Harty, B. K. Huntley, A. Cataliotti, H. Lapp, and J. C. Burnett Jr.
B-type natriuretic peptide 8-32, which is produced from mature BNP 1-32 by the metalloprotease meprin A, has reduced bioactivity
Am J Physiol Regulatory Integrative Comp Physiol,
June 1, 2009;
296(6):
R1744 - R1750.
[Abstract]
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