Association between Neutrophil-Lymphocyte Count Ratio and Matrix Metalloproteinase-9 in Patients with Acute Myocard Infarction

The correlation between metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9) level and neutrophil-lymphocyte count ratio (NLCR) in AMI patients has not been studied despite the fact that they are both known to predict ventricular remodeling. This study aimed to evaluate the correlation between the MMP-9 level and NLCR in patients with acute myocardial infarction. A cross-sectional study was conducted by recruiting acute coronary syndrome patients (onset within 24 hours) who were admitted to the emergency department in several hospitals around Bandung during October-December 2012. The relationship between the MMP-9 level and NLCR was analyzed using Pearson correlation test. Linear regression analysis was used to measure the strength of NLCR in MMP-9 level prediction. Thirty seven patients aged 55.8 + 11 years old were included in this study with mostly male patients (78%). Seventy-six percents of the sample were ST-elevation myocardial infarct (STEMI) patients with the onset of symptoms of 6 (3-14) hours. The mean lymphocyte-neutrophil ratio was 5.24 (1σ±2.4) and the MMP-9 plasma concentration was 370 (240-530) ng/mL. One-sided Pearson correlation showed a positive correlation between the two variables (r=0.44, p=0.003). The linear regression analysis conceived the formula of MMP-9 = 40.87 (NLCR) + 211.3 which was used to show the relationship between the MMP-9 level and lymphocyte-neutrophil ratio. There was a positive moderate correlation between the MMP-9 level and NLCR in patients with AMI. Linear regression analysis shows that NLCR is the only independent variable to predict the MMP-9 plasma level. Key words: Acute myocardial infarct, left ventricular remodeling, matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-9, neutrophyl-lymphocyte count Ratio (NLCR)