Background: During the remodeling process after myocardial infarction (MI), the expression of proinflammatory cytokines is enhanced in the myocardium. However, only a few clinical studies have been conducted on cytokine involvement in left ventricular (LV) remodeling after MI.
Hypothesis: Circulating proinflammatory cytokines may be involved in LV remodeling in patients with reperfused MI.
Methods: We studied 25 patients with acute anterior MI who had undergone coronary reperfusion therapy, and 10 normal control subjects with no cardiac disease. In all patients, LV ejection fraction, end-diastolic volume index (EDVI), and end-systolic volume index (ESVI) were determined using left ventriculography at the acute phase and 6 months after onset. The delta EDVI and delta ESVI were calculated as the value of LV volume reduction, suggesting LV reverse remodeling. Serum levels of interleukin (IL)-6 and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha were measured using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.
Results: Serum levels of IL-6 and TNF-alpha at the acute phase were significantly higher in patients with MI than in control subjects (both p < 0.05). The IL-6 levels correlated well negatively with delta EDVI (r = 0.779, p = 0.039), whereas no correlation was found for TNF-alpha. According to multivariate analysis, IL-6 at the acute phase was a significant independent predictor for LV remodeling after reperfused MI (p = 0.007).
Conclusions: Circulating IL-6 levels correlated closely with LV geometric changes during the remodeling process in patients with reperfused MI. Our study addresses the usefulness of another marker for LV remodeling after MI.