Serum profiles of monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 as a biomarker for patients recovering from myocardial infarction

Monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1) plays a key role in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis and has been proposed as a biomarker for patients with cardiovascular disease. To assess its clinical usefulness, serum MCP-1 concentrations were measured in patients with ST-elevation myocardial infarction (MI) at admission, immediately after percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), at 24 h, and after 6 months. We found no differences in MCP-1 concentrations between patients with acute MI, patients with stable coronary artery disease and healthy individuals. Although median MCP-1 concentrations in patients with MI were similar at admission and after 6 months, there were significant differences between individuals in how MCP-1 levels changed with time. As demonstrated by comparing baseline quartiles of MCP-1, the levels of MCP-1 tended to increase in patients with low MCP-1 concentration at admission, and decrease in patients with initially high MCP-1 levels. We found an inverse correlation between MCP-1 concentration at baseline and the time to reperfusion, and detected a significant decrease in MCP-1 concentration immediately after PCI. We also observed lower MCP-1 concentrations over time in patients who developed restenosis within 6 months. However, we did not confirm the association between MCP-1 concentrations at baseline and a number of previously implicated demographic, clinical and laboratory criteria. Our data demonstrate some new aspects of MCP-1 measurement in patients with MI, but do not corroborate many earlier observations.