Method for controlling the therapy of patients suffering from cardiac insufficiency by means of in vitro determination of threshold values of vasoactive peptides

1. A method for guiding non-surgical therapeutic treatment of a patient suffering from chronic cardiac insufficiency, said method comprising determining the concentration of at least two inactive peptides each of which is derived from the same propeptide precursor as a vasoactive peptides selected from the group consisting of adrenomedullin (ADM), endothelin-1 (ET-1) and vasopressin (AVP) in the blood of the patient before and after beginning therapy and comparing said before- and after-concentrations for each of said at least two inactive peptides wherein the at least two inactive peptides determined are selected from the group consisting of MR-proADM, CT-proET-1 and CT-proAVP, wherein no reduction of said concentrations indicates that the therapeutic measures are unsatisfactory and the therapeutic measures are changed, and wherein a reduction in said concentration indicates successful therapy.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein said concentration is determined by means of an immunoassay in vitro in a whole blood, serum or plasma sample of the patient.

3. A method for guiding non-surgical therapeutic treatment options for a patient suffering from chronic cardiac insufficiency, comprising

a) determining the concentrations of at least two inactive copeptides, each of which is formed from the same precursor as a vasoactive peptides selected from the group consisting of adrenomedullin (ADM), endothelin-1 (ET-1) and vasopressin (AVP) in the blood of the patient before therapy;

b) determining the concentration of said at least two inactive peptides measured in step a), after beginning therapy;

c) comparing the concentration of said at least two inactive peptides in the patient's blood before therapy to the concentration of said peptides after beginning therapy wherein the at least two inactive peptides determined are selected from the group consisting of MR-proADM, CT-proET-1 and CT-proAVP, wherein a reduction in the concentration of both of said peptides indicates that the therapy is effective and wherein no change or an increase in concentration indicates that the therapy is not effective.

4. The method according to claim 3 , wherein the concentration of the at least two inactive peptides each of which is derived from the same propeptide precursor as a vasoactive peptides, is determined using an assay which determines the concentration of an inactive peptide formed from the same propeptide precursor as the vasoactive peptide.

5. The method of claim 3 , wherein the concentration of the inactive peptide derived from the same propeptide precursor as ADM is determined using a sandwich immunoassay which permits the determination of the concentration of MR-proADM.

6. The method of claim 3 , wherein the concentration of an inactive peptide derived from the same propeptide precursor as ET-1 is determined using a sandwich immunoassay which determines the concentration of CT-proET-1.

7. The method of claim 3 , wherein the concentration of an inactive peptide derived from the same propeptide precursor as AVP is determined using a sandwich immunoassay which determines the concentration of CT-proAVP.

8. The method of claim 3 wherein a first measurement of the concentration of the at least two inactive peptides each of which is derived from the same propeptide precursor as the vasoactive peptides in the blood of the patient is made directly before the beginning of therapy and a second measurement is made within a period of 3 to 10 days after the beginning of the therapy.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein an insufficient reduction in the concentrations is present when the concentration of MR-proADM, is above a value of 0.6 nmol/1.

10. The method of claim 8 , wherein an insufficient reduction in the concentrations is present when the concentration of CT-proET-lafter the beginning of therapy, is above a value of 70 pmol/l.

11. The method of claim 8 , wherein an insufficient reduction in the concentrations is present when the concentration of CT-proAVP after the beginning of therapy, is above a value of 13 pmol/1.

12. The method of claim 3 , wherein the reduction is regarded as sufficient and the therapy as successful if the concentration after the beginning of the therapy for CT-proET-1 and CT-proAVP are below 70 pmol/l and 13 pmol/l, respectively.

13. The method of claim 3 , further comprising:

d) repeating steps b), and c), when no change in the concentration of the at surrogate markers for the at least two vasoactive peptides is observed.