Donor DNA levels determined by sequencing. (A–C) Time-course graphs for patients 7 (A) and 11 (B), female patients receiving male hearts also analyzed by digital PCR, and for patient 14 (C), a male patient receiving a male heart. Patients 7 and 14 had grade 3A–2R rejections as determined by biopsy at the indicated time point, whereas patient 11 was a negative control with no rejection events. The calculated donor SNP signal is graphed in purple using both homozygous and heterozygous donor SNP positions. The matched SNP background is graphed in green, demonstrating the error for the assay arising from sequencing errors, genotyping errors, or sample contamination. The difference between the green and purple trend lines represents the changing level of donor-specific DNA. (D) Collected sequencing results for all patients analyzed by sequencing (7, 8, 11, 14–17) using the corrected % donor DNA values. Samples coincident with a biopsy determining an acute cellular rejection event are grouped together in red. Samples within 3 mo of a biopsy-determined rejection are shown in orange. Samples greater than 3 mo from any biopsy-determined rejection, or from a patient without any rejection events, are considered “healthy” normal readings and are shown in green. Group averages are marked by black lines.