Press release
Natera Launches Differentiated New Feature for Prospera™ Heart Test, Enhancing Detection of Rejection for Transplant Patients
Donor Quantity Score (DQS) technique is unique to Natera, improving detection of both acute cellular rejection and antibody-mediated rejection AUSTIN,
About this update from Natera, Inc.
[{"type":"text","content":"\nDonor Quantity Score (DQS) technique is unique to Natera, improving detection of both acute cellular rejection and antibody-mediated rejection\n\n\n AUSTIN, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--\nNatera, Inc. (NASDAQ: NTRA), a global leader in cell-free DNA (cfDNA) and genetic testing, today announced the launch of Prospera Heart™ with Donor Quantity Score (DQS), further enhancing Prospera’s ability to detect rejection in heart transplant patients.\n\n\nTraditionally, donor-derived cell-free DNA (dd-cfDNA) tests have reported rejection risk based only on the fraction of dd-cfDNA in the blood vs. the total cfDNA (dd-cfDNA %). This fraction can be confounded by fluctuations in the amount of background total cfDNA (the denominator), which are sometimes caused by factors unrelated to the health of the transplant, including infection, surgery, or chemotherapy.\n\n\nProspera Heart now incorporates a second metric – the DQS – that normalizes for the background total cfDNA. Prospera Heart with DQS combines the traditional donor fraction and the new DQS into a two-threshold algorithm, delivering a single result with more accurate risk assessment for both antibody mediated rejection (AMR) and acute cellular rejection (ACR).\n\n\n“Over the last two decades, Natera has pioneered cfDNA testing across women’s health, oncology, and transplant medicine,” said Michael Olymbios, M.D., Medical Director, Heart Transplant. “Our extensive experience with cfDNA and Natera’s culture of continuous innovation drove us to further refine Prospera Heart by introducing this two-threshold algorithm to better serve the transplant community.”\n\n\nA study performed at the University of Utah and the University of California San Diego showed that incorporating DQS enhanced the performance of Prospera Heart in screening for biopsy-proven active rejection. In an initial analysis of 703 plasma samples, the two-threshold algorithm, as compared to the traditional dd-cfDNA % alone, improved several key performance metrics as follows:\n\n\n\nSensitivity increased from 80.0% to 88.2%\n\n\n\nSpecificity increased from 76.1% to 84.2%, reducing false positive results by 37.5%\n\n\n\nIncreased negative predictive value (NPV) from 97.4% to 98.6%\n\n\n\nThe study was presented at The International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation’s annual meeting in April 2024, and it will be s...