Objective: Inflammation plays a crucial role in the pathogenesis and clinical outcome of atherosclerosis. Among the various inflammatory factors, antimicrobial peptides, such as alpha-defensins, seem to contribute to the development and progression of atherosclerosis. The aim of this study was to evaluate the plasma levels of human neutrophil peptide-1, -2, and -3 (HNP1-3) in patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI) and to assess its relationship with the severity of coronary artery disease.
Methods: lasma HNP1-3 levels in patients with AMI and controls with angiographically normal coronary arteries were measured by solid-phase enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. In the patient group, coronary artery disease severity was assessed using the SYNergy between percutaneous intervention with TAXus and cardiac surgery score (SS).
Results: HNP1-3 levels were significantly higher in the group with AMI than in the controls (6.5±5.8 ng/mL vs. 2.8±2.5 ng/mL, p<0.001). The receiver operator characteristic (ROC) analysis yielded a cut-off value of 3.13 ng/mL for differentiating patients with AMI from the controls (area under the curve: 0.739, 95% confidence interval: 0.629-0.831, p<0.001). HNP1-3 levels in the high SS tertile (≥33) were slightly but statistically nonsignificantly higher than that in the low (≤22) and intermediate SS tertiles (high SS: 7.0±6.1 ng/mL, intermediate SS: 5.9±6.2 ng/mL, low SS: 5.3±3.8 ng/mL; p=0.639).
Conclusion: Patients with AMI had higher plasma HNP1-3 levels than the controls, but this did not show a significant correlation with angiographic disease severity. The nonsignificant trend toward higher SS in patients with higher HNP1-3 levels warrants future studies on larger populations.