thromboplastin and Chest-Pain

Increased circulating endothelial cells (CECs, reflecting endothelial damage) in acute coronary syndromes (ACS) has been reported. However, the inter-relationships of indices of endothelial damage/injury with development of vascular (dys)function, plasma levels of tissue factor (TF, an index of coagulation) and interleukin-6 (IL-6, a pro-inflammatory cytokine) have not been investigated in ACS. We hypothesized that increased CECs can be related to impaired flow-mediated vasodilatation (FMD, an index of endothelial dysfunction) and elevated plasma von Willebrand factor (vWf, also marking endothelial damage/dysfunction), TF and IL-6 in patients with ACS.. We studied 120 patients with ACS (80 acute myocardial infarction and 40 unstable angina; 86 male, age 65+/-12 years) and 40 matched patients with stable CAD and 40 healthy controls (HC) in a cross-sectional analysis. Plasma vWf, TF and IL-6 levels were measured by ELISA. CECs were quantified using epifluorescence microscope after immunomagnetic separation with CD146. Brachial artery FMD was assessed in a subset of 39 ACS patients.. ACS patients had significantly higher CECs, vWf, TF and IL-6 levels, but lower FMD, when compared to stable CAD and HC (all p<0.001) and all were inter-correlated significantly. In ACS, CECs was strongly correlated with FMD (r=-0.64, p<0.001) and TF (r=0.7, p<0.001). In stable CAD, significant correlations were again found between many indices, but on multivariate analysis, IL-6 and vWf were both independently related to FMD.. Increased CECs in ACS patients are closely associated with endothelial damage/dysfunction (vWf and FMD), coagulation (TF) and inflammation (IL-6). These inter-relationships support the concept of a central role of endothelial damage/injury in the activation of vascular and coagulation abnormalities in ACS.

Topics: Aged; Biomarkers; Blood Flow Velocity; Chest Pain; Coronary Disease; Endothelium, Vascular; Humans; Inflammation; Interleukin-6; Male; Middle Aged; Multivariate Analysis; Thromboplastin; Vasodilation; von Willebrand Factor

Increased platelet activation is well documented in patients with acute coronary syndromes and can be detected by various methods, including flow cytometry and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. However, such techniques require several steps and cannot provide quick results. Platelet activation ultimately results in procoagulant phospholipid exposure and we have previously described a simple activated factor X-activated clotting time (XACT) test that is insensitive to resting platelets but that is significantly shortened by activated platelets, microparticles and procoagulant phospholipids. Our aim was to determine whether the XACT test could be used to distinguish patients with chest pain due to cardiac ischaemia from those having chest pain due to non-cardiac causes. We thus carried out XACT tests on ethylenediamine tetraacetic acid whole blood and plasma samples obtained from 46 patients presenting to the emergency department with chest pain and from 30 controls. Sixteen cases (30%) were subsequently diagnosed as acute coronary syndromes. Blood samples from these patients displayed overall significantly shortened XACT results relative to both healthy controls (P<0.001) and chest pain not due to cardiac ischaemia (P<0.004). This discrimination was much better with whole blood samples than when platelet-poor plasmas were tested (P=0.153), suggesting that free microparticles were not the only factors responsible. Thus, the detection of increased procoagulant phospholipid activity in whole blood by shortened XACT results may be a simple and rapid diagnostic marker of some cardiac ischaemic events.

Topics: Acute Disease; Aged; Angina Pectoris; Blood Coagulation Factors; Blood Coagulation Tests; Chest Pain; Coronary Disease; Factor X; Female; Humans; Male; Middle Aged; Phospholipids; Pilot Projects; Platelet Activation; Predictive Value of Tests; Syndrome; Thromboplastin; Time Factors

To study the state and diagnostic value of plasma tissue factor (TF) in patients with acute coronary syndromes (ACS), we quantitatively compared plasma TF antigen and TF activity in 90 early-hospitalised patients with chest pain. Using high-affinity antibodies, a sensitive assay for TF antigen was developed with a detection limit of 40 fmol/l. One of the antibodies was used to capture TF from plasma and, after elution and dialysis-free reconstitution in phospholipid-glucoside micelles, absolute amounts of TF activity could be measured with a detection limit of 80 fmol/l. All TF in plasma was found to be exposed, and a value of 2.5(1.1-14.8) pmol/l (median with range) was found for TF antigen. Most of this TF antigen (70-80%) circulated in a (potentially) functional state. Left in its in vivo state, however, TF captured from plasma was totally inactive, probably because of the lack of a procoagulant matrix. Compared with controls with non-cardiac chest pain, TF activity was unchanged and TF antigen about 25% elevated in ACS patients. Combined with the markers prothrombin fragment F1+2 and fatty acid-binding protein, TF did not improve the early diagnosis of ACS.

Topics: Acute Disease; Adult; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Antigens; Biomarkers; Case-Control Studies; Chest Pain; Electrocardiography; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; Female; Hospitalization; Humans; Male; Middle Aged; Myocardial Infarction; Predictive Value of Tests; ROC Curve; Thromboplastin; Troponin T