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Commentary Open Access
Volume 1 | Issue 2 | DOI: https://doi.org/10.46439/cardiology.1.006

Mechanisms of troponin release into serum in cardiac injury associated with COVID-19 patients

  • 1Department Physiology and Biophysics, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA
  • 2Center for Cardiovascular Research, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA
  • 3Division of Cardiology, College of Medicine, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA
+ Affiliations - Affiliations

Corresponding Author

R. John Solaro, solarorj@uic.edu

Received Date: January 28, 2021

Accepted Date: March 08, 2021

Abstract

Serum levels of thin filament proteins, cardiac troponin T (cTnT) and cardiac troponin I (cTnI) employing high sensitivity antibodies provide a state-of-the art determination of cardiac myocyte injury in COVID-19 patients. Although there is now sufficient evidence of the value of these determinations in patients infected with SARS-CoV-2, mechanisms of their release have not been considered in depth. We summarize the importance of these mechanisms with emphasis on their relation to prognosis, stratification, and treatment of COVID-19 patients. Apart from frank necrotic cell death, there are other mechanisms of myocyte injury leading to membrane fragility that provoke release of cTnT and cTnI. We discuss a rationale for understanding these mechanisms in COVID-19 patients with co-morbidities associated with myocyte injury such as heart failure, hypertension, arrythmias, diabetes, and inflammation. We describe how understanding these significant aspects of these mechanisms in the promotion of angiotensin signaling by SARS-CoV-2 can affect treatment options in the context of individualized therapies. Moreover, with likely omic data related to serum troponins and with the identification of elevations of serum troponins now more broadly detected employing high sensitivity antibodies, we think it is important to consider molecular mechanisms of elevations in serum troponin as an element in clinical decisions and as a critical aspect of development of new therapies.

Keywords

COVID-19, Troponin, Myocardial injury, Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy

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