Research on Cardiac Troponins: Past, Present, and Future

Dear Colleagues,

It is difficult to overestimate the role of cardiac troponins in modern clinical practice, although the main area of their use is the verification of acute myocardial infarction. However, the diagnostic and prognostic role of cardiac troponins is much wider. Presently, many academic specialists are studying the new diagnostic possibilities of cardiac troponins for the improvement of treatment and diagnostic processes. The development of methods for determining cardiac troponins opens up novel applications within the framework of diagnosing both cardiovascular and extracardiac diseases, which, in the course of their pathogenic progression, cause damage to cardiomyocytes and the release of cardiac troponins. Apart from acute myocardial infarction, among cardiac and extracardiac pathologies that cause damage to cardiomyocytes, diseases such as myocarditis, cardiomyopathy, cardiac arrhythmias, pulmonary embolism, diabetes mellitus, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, stroke, renal failure, chemotherapy-induced cardiotoxicity, etc., are worth noting in particular. The study of the diagnostic and prognostic value of cardiac troponins in the case of the above-listed pathological conditions is of considerable interest among clinical physicians. It is worth noting that there are a number of physiological factors (physical activity, stress, gender and age characteristics of patients, circadian rhythms, etc.) that can have an impact on the concentration of cardiac troponins in biological fluids. The mechanisms of release of cardiac troponins in the case of nonischemic cardiovascular diseases, extracardiac pathologies, and the impact of physiological factors constitute an equally recent problem of fundamental cardiology. The new area of use of cardiac troponins—noninvasive diagnostics by way of determining cardiac troponins in oral fluid and urine—has taken shape relatively recently and continues to develop. The important advantage of this method for diagnosing myocardial injury is the fact that it is atraumatic and painless. It also reduces the risk of infection with blood-borne infections when sampling biomaterial. Moreover, due to the development of diagnostic test strips for urine and oral fluid, patients and their relatives can conduct the preliminary self-diagnostics at home. However, these methods of noninvasive diagnostics have not been conclusively validated yet. This Special Issue focuses on novel and promising diagnostic possibilities of cardiac troponins in clinical practice. Manuscripts devoted to fundamental aspects of cardiac troponins are also welcome.

Dr. Aleksey Michailovich Chaulin
Guest Editor

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