ABSTRACT
Objective To evaluate the clinical significance of the change of serum matrix metalloproteinases (MMP)-1,-2,-3 and -9 in acute and chronic aortic diseases and acute myocardial ischemia.Methods The blood serum levels of MMP-1,-2,-3 and -9 were detected in 30 patients with acute aortic dissection,19 patients with chronic aortic dissection,19 patients with aortic aneurysm and in 12 patients with acute myocardial ischemia,as well as in 16 healthy individuals who served as the control group.Serum MMP levels were measured by using an ELISA technique.Results There were significantly higher levels of MMP-3 in patients with acute myocardial ischemia as compared to acute aortic dissection ( [19.10 ± 3.11 ] μg/L vs [11.89 ± 1.31 ] μg/L,P =0.02).Significantly lower levels of MMP-1 were found in healthy controls compared to the groups of patients ( [1.30 ± 0.56 ] μg/L vs [2.99 ± 0.78 ] μg/L in acute aortic dissection,P =0.03,[3.12 ±0.78] μg/L in chronic dissection,P =0.02,[3.01 ± 1.01 ] μg/L in thoracic aortic aneurysm,P =0.03 and [5.01 ± 0.98 ] μg/L in acute myocardial ischemia,P =0.01 ).Higher levels of M MP-1 and MMP-3 were detected on males.There was a positive correlation between MMP-1 and increasing age ( r =0.38,P ＜ 0.05 ).In patients operated for acute type A aortic dissection,the levels of MMP-1,MMP-3 and MMP-9 increased immediately after surgery,while the levels of MMP-2 decreased.Twenty-four hours after surgery levels of MMP-1,-2 and -9 were almost equal to the preoperative ones( P ＞ 0.05 ).Conclusion Measurement of serum MMP levels in thoracic aortic disease and acute myocardial ischemia is a simple and relatively rapid laboratory test that could be used as a biochemical indicator of aortic disease or acute myocardial ischemia,when evaluated in combination with imaging techniques.