Serum relaxin levels as a novel biomarker for detection of acute myocardial infarction.

UNLABELLED Background- AIMS Little is known about the prognostic significance of elevated serum relaxin in acute myocardial infarction (AMI) patients. The present study is designed to investigate the potential association between serum relaxin levels and the risk of AMI. MATERIALS AND METHODS We measured circulating relaxin levels in 80 patients (median age 62.3 years) who presented with first-time AMI 8 hours after the incident. The circulating relaxin-2 levels in 80 healthy volunteers (median age 61.5 years) was also measured. Relaxin-2 was detected using enzyme immunoassay in both groups. RESULTS Serum relaxin levels were significantly higher in patients with AMI (27.4 ± 6.3 ng/ml) compared to controls (9.2 ± 2.3 ng/ml) (P < 0.01). We found that a relaxin level > 13.8 ng/ml had a sensitivity of 79% and a specificity of 86% for predicting AMI. Relaxin revealed the higher sensitivity and specificity for diagnosing AMI. CONCLUSIONS Elevated relaxin in plasma may be a novel biomarker for early detection of AMI.