Cardiac isoform of alpha-2 macroglobulin - A new biomarker for myocardial infarcted diabetic patients

Cardiac isoform of alpha-2 macroglobulin [cardiac alpha 2M] has been shown to be an early marker in cardiac hypertrophy and left ventricular mass in humans. We, here, for the first time report its presence in myocardial infarcted humans and tried to explore the possibility of using this protein as a novel diagnostic marker for myocardial infarcted diabetic patients. A total of 260 samples were analyzed in this study for the presence of cardiac alpha 2M. These include 55 patients of diabetic with post myocardial infarction [PMI], 45 diabetic patients without PMI, 60 patients of PMI alone and 100 controls without any ailments. Levels of cardiac alpha 2M present in the sera of diabetic patients with PMI are significantly higher than that of normal human sera and diabetic patients without PMI but not with PMI alone group, suggesting this protein as a marker for PMI itself. However, our results reveal that cardiac alpha 2M could be a valuable marker for the diagnosis of myocardial infarcted diabetic patients and differentiating them from diabetic patients without myocardial infarction by sandwich ELISA. (c) 2005 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.