Hepatocyte growth factor (HGF): A new biochemical marker for acute myocardial infarction

Summary  The purpose of this study was to investigate the use of hepatocyte growth factor as a biochemical marker for acute myocardial infarction. Several 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 patients with stable effort angina after diagnostic catheterization (controls) and in 12 patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI). The measurements 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. Furthermore, in each patient we evaluated the time to reach the maximum level and the time for the level to decline to less than half the maximum. Hepatocyte growth factor levels (ng/ml) were 0.3±0.1 for angina pectoris patients, and 15.7±9.1 within 6h and 12.5±4.6 within 12h after the onset for AMI patients, respectively. The correlation coefficients between hepatocyte growth factor and creatine phosphokinase 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 decline 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 indicator and reflects the clinical course in patients with acute myocardial infarction.