Comparison of pregnancy-associated plasma protein-A, troponin and creatine kinase-MB levels in acute coronary syndrome

Early diagnosis and proper treatment of patient with acute coronary syndrome (ACS) and ischemic heart disease are important in determining prognosis, preventing adverse effects, and may even save lives. In this study, the level of pregnancy-associated plasma protein-A (PAPP-A) in ACS patients was compared with the control group, in addition to cardiac Troponin (cTn) and creatine kinase-myocardial band (CK-MB) markers.

In this cross-sectional study, 116 patients with ACS were selected by convenience sampling method among patients referring to the emergency department of Farshchian Heart Center, Hamadan University of Medical Science in Iran, from June 2017 to May 2018, and then were compared with 116 healthy persons (control group) in term of PAPP-A, CK-MB and serum cTn biomarkers.

The mean and standard deviation of PAPP-A in acute coronary syndrome (ACS) and control group were 93.85±27.56 and 89.63±7.29, respectively. There was no significant statistical difference between patients with ACS and control group. However, the level of PAPP-A in ST segment elevated myocardial infarction patients (STE-MI) was significantly higher than those with unstable angina (UA) and non-ST segment elevated myocardial infarction (NSTE-MI) (P<0.001). The mean and standard deviation of PAPP-A in patients with acute coronary syndrome with positive and negative troponin results was 99.42±27.52 and 90.69±18.79, respectively (P=0.021). The correlation coefficient between serum PAPP-A and creatine kinase-MB obtained 0.070 (P=0.292).

In patients with ACS, in addition to the increase in cardiac troponin markers (cTn), the serum level of pregnancy-associated plasma protein A (PAPP-A) also increases significantly. Therefore in addition to measuring serum cardiac troponin levels, evaluation and measurement of PAPP-A can also be used to diagnose and management of ACS.