Clinical implications of circulating soluble Fas and Fas ligand in patients with acute myocardial infarction.

Background Apoptotic cell death is the major form of myocardial damage produced by coronary ischemic events. Objective To assess whether circulating levels of soluble Fas (sFas), an inhibitor of apoptosis, and sFas ligand, an inducer of apoptosis, in patients with coronary artery disease are greater than normal. Methods Forty-seven patients [acute myocardial infarction (AMI) in 17, old myocardial infarction (OMI) in 15, stable angina in 15] and 10 normal control subjects participated in this study. Serum levels of sFas and sFas ligand in all patients were measured, and cardiac catheterizations were performed. Results Serum levels of sFas were greater than normal only in patients with AMI (4.6 ± 1.6ng/ml); the levels were significantly higher than those in patients with OMI (2.1 ± 0.6ng/ml) and stable angina (2.2 + 0.5 ng/ml), and in normal subjects (2.0±0.6ng/ml; P Conclusions Circulating sFas increases in concentration in relation to the severity of hemodynamic conditions in patients with AMI, but it is independent from size of infarct. Therefore, circulating sFas could play an important role as the marker of pathophysiologic conditions associated with cardiomyocyte apoptosis in AMI.