Association between apelin-12 and creatine kinase-MB, depending on success of reperfusion in STEMI patients

Background: Acute myocardial infarction is characterised by an imbalance in the supply and demand of oxygen in the heart. It requires urgent reperfusion, and poor outcomes are attributed to myocardial ischaemia-reperfusion injury. We aimed to evaluate the association between apelin-12 levels and creatine kinase-MB activity in predicting the effectiveness of reperfusion therapy in ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) patients.Methods: In this study we included 72 patients with the following criteria: chest pain suggestive of myocardial ischae-mia for at least 30 minutes, an electrocardiogram with ST-segment elevation (measured at the J-point) >_ 2 mm in leads V2-V3 and/or >_ 1 mm in the other leads, rise of specific biomarkers such as cardiac troponin and the MB fraction of creatine kinase (CK-MB), and those who underwent reperfu-sion therapy. Blood samples for the measurement of apelin-12 and creatine kinase-MB were collected 12 hours after the reperfusion therapy.Results: In patients with thrombolysis in myocardial infarc-tion (TIMI) flow grade <_ 2, the median of the apelin-12 level was 1.80 ng/ml (0.46-9.20), and with TIMI flow 3, it was 5.76 ng/ml (1.14-15.2). Variability was observed in the apelin values (Mann-Whitney test) based on TIMI flow grade (p < 0.001), while no variability was observed for creatine kinase-MB (p < 0.18). The degree of association between apelin-12 and creatine kinase-MB levels was analysed with Pearson's correlation, enabling us to determine patients with success-ful reperfusion (determined as TIMI flow 3) (p < 0.004), and those with unsuccessful reperfusion (with TIMI flow <_ 2) (p = 0.86).Conclusion: In STEMI patients undergoing reperfusion ther-apy, apelin-12 level was associated with creatine kinase-MB activity according to the success of the reperfusion.