The research on the relationship between serum level of interleukin-18 and acute coronary syndrome

Objective To elucidate the relationship between serum level of interleukin(IL)-18 and acute coronary syndrome(ACS), and whether IL-18 is a reliable biochemical marker indicating the severity of ACS.Methods Eighty-six patients including unstable angina pectoris (UAP) and acute myocardial infarction (AMI) were studied. Serum concentration of IL-18 was measured by enzyme linked immunoadsorption assay. Patients with UAP were classified with Braunwald classes and those with AMI were classified with Killip classes when their venous blood samples were collected. The coronary artery lesion score was recorded according to Gensini scoring system. Data was estimated by SPSS software package.Results The concentration of IL-18 in patients with ACS was correlative with the severity of the diseases. The serum level of IL-18 was obviously higher in the acute coronary syndrome group than that in the stable angina pectoris group, and it was positively correlated with the Gensini score.Conclusion Serum concentration of IL-18 in patients with ACS might be a reliable biochemical marker which can objectively indicate the degree of this disease. The positive correlation between the marker and the coronary artery score may indicate that the serum level of IL-18 might reflect the severity of coronary heart disease.