Serum creatine kinase MM isoenzyme sub-bands after acute myocardial infarction in man.

Using an isoelectric-focusing (IEF) method developed to quantitate MM isoenzyme-creatine kinase (CK) sub-band activity, we identified a reproducible time-varying pattern of these sub-bands in the serum of eight patients with acute myocardial infarction (MI). Our observations are consistent with the view that MM3-CK (the M2-CK dimer, the pure gene product) is converted intravascularly to MM2-CK, and then to MM1-CK (the M1-CK dimer, the pure postsynthetic sub-band). The MM3-CK reaches a peak first, 16 hours after infarction, followed by MM2-CK, and then by MM1-CK. The MM3-CK is the dominant sub-band in normal myocardium; there is much less MM2-CK and virtually no MM1-CK. The MM3-CK sub-band peak may indicate the time at which enzyme ceases to be released from the injured myocardium. The ratio MM3-CK:MM1-CK rises within 6 hours after onset of chest pain from a baseline of 0.38 and peaks 10 hours after MI. The peak ratio was between 1.1 and 4.2, and the value correlated with the time when total CK activity peaked after MI. The 10-fold change in the MM3:MM1 ratio after MI, as well as the early period at which this ratio peaks (10 hours), makes this an earlier and more sensitive indicator of enzyme release.