HEPATOCYTE GROWTH-FACTOR (HGF) - A NEW BIOCHEMICAL MARKER FOR ACUTE MYOCARDIAL-INFARCTION

The purpose of this study was to investigate the use of hepatocyte gro wth factor as a biochemical marker for acute myocardial infarction. Se veral biochemical markers are used for noninvasive detection of acute myocardial infarction, However, hepatocyte growth factor has not been used previously for this purpose. We measured hepatocyte growth factor , creatine phosphokinase, and MB isoenzyme (CK-MB) levels in 6 patient s with stable effort angina after diagnostic catheterization (controls ) and in 12 patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI). The measu rements in the AMI patients were recorded twice a day for the first 3 days after onset of chest pain and once a day for the next 4 days. Fur thermore, in each patient we evaluated the time to reach the maximum l evel and the time for the level to decline to less than half the maxim um. Hepatocyte growth factor levels (ng/ml) were 0.3 +/- 0.1 for angin a pectoris patients, and 15.7 +/- 9.1 within 6 h and 12.5 +/- 4.6 with in 12 h after the onset for AMI patients, respectively. The correlatio n coefficients between hepatocyte growth factor and creatine phosphoki nase and between hepatocyte growth factor and CK-MB were 0.68 and 0.74 , respectively. The time to reach the maximum (h) and the time to decl ine to less than half of the maximum level (days) were 6.6 +/- 2.6 and 1.2 +/- 0.2 for hepatocyte growth factor, 19.4 +/- 8.7 and 2.5 +/- 1. 4 for creatine phosphokinase, and 16.6 +/- 7.7 and 1.5 +/- 0.4 for CK- MB, respectively. Hepatocyte growth factor is useful as a prognostic i ndicator and reflects the clinical course in patients with acute myoca rdial infarction.