Association between anticardiolipin antibodies, serum protein C levels and acute myocardial infarction

Objective: Anticardiolipin antibodies and protein C deficiency and/or resistance are among the well-known hypercoagulability syndromes. We wanted to investigate whether serum levels and activity of Protein C and/or anticardiolipin antibodies were different in patients who admitted with acute ST elevation myocardial infarction from healthy controls. Patients and methods: Fifty patients who admitted to the emergency department within 6 hours of onset of chest pain and diagnosed as acute ST elevation myocardial infarction was included. Complete blood count, biochemistry, CK, CKMB and Troponin T levels were measured after a complete physical examination. Control group consisted of age and sex matched healthy individuals with no symptoms or signs of coronary artery disease or history of coronary artery disease. Protein C activity and anticardiolipin IgM, IgG and IgA were measured in the core laboratory of the hospital. Results: Protein C activity of the AMI group and the control group did not reveal significant difference although mean Protein C activity was higher compared to control group (148.16 +/- 7.51 vs 135.64 +/- 4.8; p>0.05). Anticardiolipin IgG levels were higher in AMI patients than the controls (10.09 +/- 0.62 vs 5.5 +/- 0.36 p<0.01) as well as anticardiolipin IgM levels (10.27 +/-.13 vs 7.8 +/- 0.37 p<0.01). Conclusion: It is important to detect high-risk groups in terms of recurrent thrombosis. Larger studies with standardized measurement of anticardiolipins may clarify whether hypercoagulability should be investigated in at least some high-risk acute myocardial infarction survivors.