Significant increases in monocyte counts and serum creatine kinase in acute myocardial infarction versus general...

Biomarkers specificity is an important factor for their reliable utilization. Known markers for acute myocardial infarction (AMI), including creatine kinase (CK), C-reactive protein (CRP), and blood cell counts are thought to be altered in other pathologic conditions, such as infections.

To compare the level of these biomarkers in AMI patients and infected controls with respect to normal subjects.

We recruited 15 AMI patients, 15 patients with bacterial infections (infected control group) and 35 normal subjects. Peripheral blood samples were obtained for blood cell counts and biochemical analyses.

Only monocytes were significantly increased in AMI patients (0.793×10(9)/L) than normal controls (0.497×10(9)/L). Infected controls showed a significant increase in total white blood cell (11.50×10(9)/L versus 6.149×10(9)/L) and neutrophil (9.360 versus 3.223×10(9)/L) counts and a significant decrease in red blood cell (3.750 versus 5.105×10(12)/L) counts as compared with normal controls. Serum CK was significantly increased in AMI patients (313.20±94.84 U/L) and decreased in infected controls (48.40±10.35 U/L) as compared with normal controls (100.82±8.86 U/L). The levels of CRP were significantly higher in infected controls (136.93±34.83 mg/L) and nonsignificantly higher in AMI patients (38.53±12.76 mg/L) than normal controls (3.48±0.59 mg/L). Monocytes were significantly correlated with both CK and CRP; however, there was no correlation between CK and CRP.

Differential trends of monocytes and CK in AMI and infective controls point toward their possible application in prognosis of AMI patients.