N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) is produced predominately by the cardiac ventricular myocytes and is released in response to myocardial stress and filling pressure and is involved in maintaining intravascular volume homeostasis. After stimulation of heart muscle cells, the natriuretic peptides are produced as prohormones (proBNP) and this is cleaved into two fragments which are secreted into the bloodstream as the 32 amino acids active BNP and the N-terminal fragment of 76 amino acids designated as NT-proBNP. NT-proBNP immunoassays are widely used and are now considered to be a useful marker and have a high degree of diagnostic accuracy in clinical practice and cardiovascular research as a diagnostic tool for the occurrence and severity of heart failure (HF). Therefore NT-proBNP measurements in human blood are helpful not only for the cardiac disease diagnosis but also for evaluation of patients with suspected HF and assessment of severity of the disease.
