Received on ,
Accepted on ,

Brief Communications

Lack of Association of Soluble CD40 Ligand with the Presence of Acute Myocardial Infarction or Ischemic Stroke in the Emergency Department

¹ Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Cardiology, Innsbruck Medical University, Innsbruck, Austria
² Central Institute for Medical and Chemical Laboratory Diagnostics, Innsbruck Medical University, Innsbruck, Austria
³ Department of Neurology, Innsbruck Medical University, Innsbruck, Austria
⁴ Department of Internal Medicine, Division of General Internal Medicine, Innsbruck Medical University, Innsbruck, Austria

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: Johannes.Mair{at}i-med.ac.at.

BACKGROUND: Soluble CD40 ligand (sCD40L) has been proposed as a new risk marker for cardiovascular diseases; however, its possible role as a diagnostic marker in the emergency department (ED) has not yet been investigated.

METHODS: We investigated sCD40L for the diagnosis of acute myocardial infarction or ischemic stroke in 1089 consecutive patients (525 males, 564 females; age, 17–98 years; median, 56 years) in an ED treating mainly adults with medical or neurologic emergencies. We used a research assay from Roche Diagnostics to measure sCD40L in plasma from routinely drawn heparin-treated blood samples.

RESULTS: Intraassay and interassay CVs in our laboratory ranged from 1.6%–4.2% and from 4.4%–4.9%, respectively. A multiple linear regression analysis revealed sCD40L concentration to be significantly associated with C-reactive protein concentration (P = 0.012) and platelet count (P < 0.001). In addition, a subgroup analysis revealed a significant association between smoking and sCD40L concentration (P = 0.006). All other tested variables, including discharge diagnosis, age, sex, and other laboratory variables, showed no significant associations.

CONCLUSIONS: In adults presenting to the ED, sCD40L is not useful as a diagnostic marker for acute cardiac, cerebrovascular ischemic, or thromboembolic events.