Clinical significance of serum IL-18 and MMP-9 levels in patients with acute cerebral infarction

Objective To investigate the serum interleukin-18(IL-18)and matrix metalloproteinase-9(MMP-9)levels in patients with acute cerebral infarction(ACI)and the clinical significance.Methods 53 patients with ACI were selected.According to the volume of infarction and the standard of clinical neurologic impairment degree score,they were divided into different groups.In all subjects,the serum IL-18 and MMP-9 concentrations were detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay(ELISA).Comparison and analysis were performed by using a SPSS 13.0 soft.Results The serum IL-18 and MMP-9 levels in the patients with ACI were significantly higher than those in the healthy subjects(P0.01).The serum levels of IL-18 and MMP-9 increased with the volumes of infarction,the differences between the groups were significant(P0.05).The serum levels of IL-18 and MMP-9 were correlated with the volumes of infarction(P0.05).The serum levels of IL-18 and MMP-9 increased with the clinical neurologic impairment degree scores,the differences among the groups were significant(all P0.05).The serum levels of IL-18 and MMP-9 were correlated with the clinical impairment neurologic degree scores(P0.05).Conclusions The serum levels of IL-18 and MMP-9 are significantly elevated in the patients with ACI.The serum levels of IL-18 and MMP-9 are correlated with the volumes of infarction and the clinical neurologic impairment degree scores.Detecting the serum levels of IL-18 and MMP-9 would be helpful for estimating the severity and prognosis of ACI.