Patent ID: 8647830

Claim:
An in vitro method for medical diagnosis, prognosis and therapy follow-up for a patient having a cardiac disease or suspected of developing or having a cardiac disease, detecting and quantitating in a sample from said patient at least one marker comprising the midregional area of the amino-terminal portion of pro-atrial natriuretic peptide (proANP [SEQ ID NO:2]) (“NT-pro-ANP”, consisting of amino acids 1-98 of SEQ ID NO:2), said midregional area of pro-ANP (MR-proANP) spanning amino acids 50-90 of SEQ ID NO:2, or partial peptides of NT-proANP, collectively NT-proANP analytes, said analytes having from 12 to 98 amino acids, wherein said detection and quantitation comprises (i) contacting said sample with at least two different antibodies that specifically bind to partial sequences within MR-proANP, and (ii) detecting the amount of bound antibody; whereby when the amount of bound antibody corresponds to a level of pro-ANP analyte that is higher than a cut-off value of from 190 to 260 pmol/L, as determined in a sample of plasma, and which level is independent of the BMI of the patient, the level of pro-ANP analyte indicates that the patient has or is developing a cardiac disease, wherein attribution of this indication to the patient's clinical picture is used for diagnosis, prognosis or therapeutic follow up of said patient.