Aim: To investigate the correlation between serum MMP-2 and MMP-9 in patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI) before and after PCI.
Methods: The enzymatic activity and protein expression level of serum MMP-2 and MMP-9 in 56 patients with AMI and 20 control subjects were detected by the SDS-PAGE enzymograph and Western blot before and 1-7 days after PCI. The correlation between MMP-2 and MMP-9 was also analyzed.
Results: The enzymatic activity and protein expression level of serum MMP-2 and MMP-9 in 56 patients with AMI were both significantly higher than those in the control subjects before and after PCI (P<0.01). The enzymatic activity and protein expression level of serum MMP-2 and MMP-9 in patients with AMI began to increase on the first day and were at peak on the third day (P<0.01). They began to decrease on the fifth day after PCI (P<0.05). The enzymatic activity of serum MMP-2 was correlated positively with that of MMP-9 (P<0.01). The protein expression level of serum MMP-2 was also correlated positively with that of MMP-9 (P<0.01).
Conclusion: The serum MMP-2 and MMP-9 may be related to inflammatory injuries after myocardial ischemia and reperfusion. MMP-2 can be regarded as an important marker of inflammation as MMP-9 in the pathogenesis of AMI.