IRAK-4 Variants in acute coronary syndrome patients

In recent years, the role of biomarkers that reflect the inflammation and the inflammatory situation in coronary artery disease has been investigated in many studies (1, 2). Acute coronary syndrome (ACS), as the name suggests, defines all clinical situations caused by myocardial ischemia as a result of the decrease in coronary artery blood flow. IRAK-4 is an element of TLR signal pathway that plays a particularly important role in innate immunity (3, 4). As a result of the stimulation of IRAK-4, other mediators that play roles in cytokine and inflammatory responses in the continuance of the signal pathway are also activated. In a study that showed the relation between ACS inflammations conducted by Wyss et al. (5), the toll-like receptors and cytokine levels were examined; herein, TLR-4 activation reportedly stimulated cytokine release and played an active role in ACS.