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Review
. 2019 Apr 12;20(8):1820.
doi: 10.3390/ijms20081820.

BNP and NT-proBNP as Diagnostic Biomarkers for Cardiac Dysfunction in Both Clinical and Forensic Medicine

Zhipeng Cao  1 , Yuqing Jia  2 , Baoli Zhu  3
Affiliations
Review

BNP and NT-proBNP as Diagnostic Biomarkers for Cardiac Dysfunction in Both Clinical and Forensic Medicine

Zhipeng Cao et al. Int J Mol Sci. .

Abstract

Currently, brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) and N-terminal proBNP (NT-proBNP) are widely used as diagnostic biomarkers for heart failure (HF) and cardiac dysfunction in clinical medicine. They are also used as postmortem biomarkers reflecting cardiac function of the deceased before death in forensic medicine. Several previous studies have reviewed BNP and NT-proBNP in clinical medicine, however, few articles have reviewed their application in forensic medicine. The present article reviews the biological features, the research and application status, and the future research prospects of BNP and NT-proBNP in both clinical medicine and forensic medicine, thereby providing valuable assistance for clinicians and forensic pathologists.

Keywords: BNP; NT-proBNP; cardiac dysfunction; forensic medicine; heart failure; postmortem biochemistry.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Diagrammatic sketch of mechanical stretch inducing brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) signal transduction events, structural processing, receptor binding, cleavage processing, and degradation enzymes (modified from [36,43] with permission).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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