title: Elevation of cardiac troponin T in patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.
abstract: Limited evidence suggests that specificity of cardiac troponin T (cTnT), a highly sensitive biomarker of myocardial injury, is reduced in patients with skeletal myopathies. Whether amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS)-the most common motor neuron disease-could be also associated with abnormal plasma or serum cTnT levels remains unclear. Our objective was to assess cTnT levels in patients with ALS without known cTnT elevating conditions. Among ALS patients seen at our institution until 2012 we identified those who had their cTnT measured. Patients who suffered from conditions known to elevate cTnT were excluded. A case-control analysis comparing cTnT levels of these ALS patients to matched non-ALS controls fulfilling the same inclusion criteria was performed. We included 40 ALS patients of whom 27 (68 %) patients had a positive cTnT. In the control group (n = 40), 2 (5 %) tested as cTnT positive (p < 0.001). Among the ALS patients who underwent cTnT evaluation on more occasions (n = 7; median follow-up = 1.08 years), 2 (29 %) patients tested positive during the initial measurement while 6 (86 %) of them had positive cTnT at the subsequent evaluations. ALS patients with increased cTnT had been diagnosed with ALS significantly earlier than those without the elevation. Our findings raise the possibility that ALS may cause cTnT elevations. Further studies are needed to confirm these findings, clarify the pathophysiological mechanism, and establish the significance of cTnT elevations in patients with ALS.
authors.affiliation: Division of Cardiovascular Diseases, Mayo Clinic, 200 First Street SW, Rochester, MN, 55905, USA.|International Clinical Research Center, St. Anne's University Hospital Brno, Pekarska 53, Brno, 656 91, Czech Republic.|Medical Faculty, Masaryk University, Kamenice 5, Brno, 625 00, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Lukas
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Mach
authors.affiliation: Division of Cardiovascular Diseases, Mayo Clinic, 200 First Street SW, Rochester, MN, 55905, USA. tomkony@hotmail.com.|International Clinical Research Center, St. Anne's University Hospital Brno, Pekarska 53, Brno, 656 91, Czech Republic. tomkony@hotmail.com.|University of Southern California, 1975 Zonal Ave, Los Angeles, CA, 90033, USA. tomkony@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: Tomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Konecny
authors.affiliation: Division of Cardiovascular Diseases, Mayo Clinic, 200 First Street SW, Rochester, MN, 55905, USA.|International Clinical Research Center, St. Anne's University Hospital Brno, Pekarska 53, Brno, 656 91, Czech Republic.|Department of Cardiology, University Hospital Brno, Jihlavska 340/20, Brno, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Katerina
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Helanova
authors.affiliation: Division of Cardiovascular Diseases, Mayo Clinic, 200 First Street SW, Rochester, MN, 55905, USA.|Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology, Mayo Clinic, 200 First Street SW, Rochester, MN, 55905, USA.
authors.forename: Allan S
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Jaffe
authors.affiliation: Neuromuscular Division, Department of Neurology, Mayo Clinic, 200 First Street SW, Rochester, MN, 55905, USA.
authors.forename: Eric J
authors.initials: EJ
authors.lastname: Sorenson
authors.affiliation: Division of Cardiovascular Diseases, Mayo Clinic, 200 First Street SW, Rochester, MN, 55905, USA.
authors.forename: Virend K
authors.initials: VK
authors.lastname: Somers
authors.affiliation: Division of Cardiovascular Diseases, Mayo Clinic, 200 First Street SW, Rochester, MN, 55905, USA.
authors.forename: Guy S
authors.initials: GS
authors.lastname: Reeder
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000690:Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis / Q000097:blood* / Q000401:mortality; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D053208:Kaplan-Meier Estimate; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D020107:Troponin T / Q000097:blood*
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D020107:Troponin T
keywords: Acute coronary syndrome; Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis; Neuromuscular disease; Troponin T