Microparticles during long-term follow-up after acute myocardial infarction. Association to atherosclerotic burden and risk of cardiovascular events.

Microparticles (MPs) are formed from platelets (PMPs), endothelial cells (EMPs) and monocytes (MMPs), and in acute myocardial infarction (MI), there is an increase of MPs in the culprit artery. In this study MPs were evaluated in whole blood in 105 patients with MI at five time-points during a two-year follow-up (FU). Patients with non-ST-elevated MI had higher concentrations of CD41+MPs compared to ST-elevated MI patients (p=0.024). The concentrations of PMPs in whole blood increased during the time period (p<0.001), but no significant change over time was found for EMPs and MMPs. CD62P+MP counts were higher in MI patients with diabetes (p=0.020), and patients with hypertension had increased levels of CD14+MPs (p=0.004). The amount of CD62P+TF+MPs increased significantly during FU (p<0.001). Patients with atherosclerosis in three arterial beds, i. e. coronary, carotid and peripheral arteries, had lower concentrations of CD62P+TF+MPs (p=0.035) and CD144+TF+MPs (p=0.004) compared to patients with atherosclerosis in one or two arterial beds. Higher concentrations of CD62P+MPs early after MI were associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular events during FU, hazard ratio 3.32 (95 %CI1.20-9.31). Only small variations in PMP, EMP and MMP concentrations were found during long-term FU after MI and their levels seem to reflect the underlying cardiovascular disease rather than the acute MI. PMPs expressing P-selectin might be a promising biomarker for predicting future cardiovascular events, but further studies are needed to confirm these results.