SERUM IGE LEVELS IN PATIENTS WITH ISCHEMIC HEART DISEASE

Background:

Recently, mast cells have been found to participate in the inflammatory process of atherosclerosis.Mast cells can be activated by IgE-mediated mechanisms to release potent mediators which also affect coronary blood flow. The aim of this study was to determine serum IgE levels in patients with acute ischemic syndromes.

Methods:

Serum samples were collected from 3 groups consisting of 30 patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI), 30 patients with unstable angina pectoris and 30 subjects without any ischemic heart diseases, as a control group. The serum IgE levels were measured by sandwich ELISA technique.

Results:

The mean serum IgE concentrations in AMI, unstable angina and control groups were 367.1, 286.2 and 136 IU/ml, respectively. There was a significant difference between the IgE levels in patients with AMI and those in the control group (p<0.01). Moreover, there was a significant association between IgE levels and acute ischemic syndromes in men as compared to women.

Conclusion:

Elevated levels of serum IgE were observed in patients with ischemic heart diseases.These results suggested that IgE might play an important role in the immunopathogenesis of AMI and unstable angina or that it could only be a marker formed during pathological mechanism