Correlation between Th1/Th2 drift in blood and characteristics of coronary lesions, deficiency syndrome and sufficiency syndrome in patients with acute coronary syndrome

AIM:To study the correlation between Th1/Th2 drift in blood and characteristics of coronary lesions and to provide a clinical basis for introducing Th1/Th2 drift to the microdifferentiation of deficiency syndrome and sufficiency syndrome of xiongbi in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). METHODS: All study patients underwent percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) including 22 cases with unstable angina (UA), 11 cases with acute myocardial infarction (AMI), six cases with syndrome X, and six cases with old myocardial infarction (OMI). During PCI, the characteristics of coronary lesions were evaluated by Gensini integral and the number of coronary arteries with plaque, and TCM syndrome differentiations were made. The healthy control group consisted of 20 cases. Serum levels of IFN-γ, IL-2, IL-4, and IL-10 were detected by ELISA. RESULTS: Levels of IFN-γ, IL-2 in UA group, AMI group and OMI group were all significantly higher than those in the control group (P<0.05), with IFN-γ in AMI group >UA group>OMI group. No significant difference was seen in levels of IL-2 among AMI, UA and OMI groups, but IL-2 in AMI group was higher than in the UA group. No significant difference in the levels of IL-4 and IL-10 was observed between groups. Levels of IFN-γ and IL-2 in ACS were positively related to the level of Gensini integral, but levels of IL-4 and IL-10 were negatively related to the level of Gensini integral. No significant difference was seen in the levels of IFN-γ and IL-2 between the group of one coronary artery with plaque and the group of two coronary arteries with plaque but were lower than those in the group of three coronary arteries with plaque (P<0.05). Levels of IL-4 and IL-10 were similar in the group of two coronary arteries with plaque and the group of three coronary arteries with plaque (P>0.05), but the level in the group of one coronary artery with plaque was higher than in the groups of two and three coronary arteries with plaque (P<0.05). Levels of IFN-γ, IL-2 and Gensini integral in sufficiency syndrome were significantly higher than those in deficiency syndrome (P<0.05). CONCLUSION: Increased levels of IFN-γ and IL-2 are not only predispositions of ACS, but are also aggravating factors of coronary artery plaques. Increased levels of IFN-γ and IL-2 can be used as indicators of sufficiency syndrome.