Prognostic value of morphological, biochemical, molecular markers of fibrosis in patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy

Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) at the cellular level is characterized by hypertrophy, cardiomyocyte disorganization and myocardial fibrosis areas. The leading death cause in HCM remains sudden cardiac death (SCD). Despite the existing risk scores for SCD in HCM, there are still patients with uncertain SCD risk. In addition, SCD cases are also recorded among low-risk patients. From the above, search for novel markers for a more accurate risk assessment should be continued. Fibrosis is currently suspected to be a substrate of potentially life-threatening ventricular arrhythmias. Despite the increasingly widespread use of cardiac magnetic resonance imaging in the diagnosis of myocardial fibrosis and stratification of patients at high SCD risk, the determination of myocardial fibrosis biomarkers remains a relevant and promising area. The article presents the results of studies proving the diagnostic significance and relationship with the risk of life-threatening cardiac arrhythmias of the following markers: C-propeptide of type I procollagen, matrix metalloproteinase proteins, tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinases 1, microRNA family, soluble suppression of tumorigenicity 2, galectin-3, apelin. Evaluation of these biomarkers can be used to improve risk stratification of patients with HCM.