Patent ID: 8716030

Claim:
A method for diagnosing a heart disease in a subject comprising: A) introducing to a blood or serum sample from the subject one or more peptides selected from the group consisting of: a) a cyclic peptide of formula I: (SEQ ID NO: 3) cyclo(Ala-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-Cys-x-x-x-Pro-x-Cys- Cys-x k -Gln), wherein k is any integer from 0 to 6; and wherein x is any amino acid; b) a cyclic peptide of formula II: (SEQ ID NO: 4) Cyclo(Ala-x-x-Trp-x-x-Gly-x-Phe-x-Cys-x h -Gln), wherein h is any integer from 0 to 2; and wherein x is any amino acid; c) a cyclic peptide of formula III: (SEQ ID NO: 5) Cyclo(Ala-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-Cys-x j -Cys-x-x-x-Pro- x-Cys-Cys-x i -Gln), wherein j is any integer from 0 to 4; wherein i is any integer from 0 to 6; and wherein x is any amino acid; and d) a peptide of formula IV: (SEQ ID NO: 6) Ala-x l -Cys-x m -Cys-x-x-x-Pro-x-Cys-Cys-x n -Gln, wherein l is 9; wherein m is any integer from 0 to 4; wherein n is any integer from 0 to 6; and wherein x is any amino acid; B) performing an assay to detect levels of anti-β-adrenergic receptor antibodies that interact with the one or more peptides in the sample; and C) assessing a risk of or presence of the heart disease in the subject based on the level of anti-β-adrenergic receptor antibodies detected in the sample.