Clinical Implications of Markers of Apoptosis in Patients with Myocardial Infarction

Purpose: To examine the possible participation of the Fas/Fas ligand (Fas-L) system and tumor necrosis factor-a (TNF-α) in the pathogenesis of acute and old myocardial infarction (AMI and OMI) in a trial to explore the role of immune mechanisms in the pathogenesis of these conditions. Subject: Serum levels of sFas, sFasL and TNF-α were measured in 10 patients with AMI, 12 patients with OMI and 15 normal subjects as control group. We excluded AMI patients with congestive heart failure, concomitant inflammatory disease, cancer or other significant heart diseases. Method: Serum levels of sFas, sFas ligand and TNF-α were determined by ELISA. Results: Serum levels of sFas and TNF-α were greater than normal only in patients with AMI compared to normal subjects, however, there was no difference among serum levels of sFasL for all groups. Conclusion: We found that circulating levels of sFas and TNF-α in patients with AMI increase during the early phase of disease whereas levels of sFas ligand remained unchanged. Therefore circulating sFas and TNF- α could play an important role as marker of pathophysiologic conditions associated with cardiomyocyte apoptosis in AMI.