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(Stroke. 2005;36:3.)
© 2005 American Heart Association, Inc.

Letters to the Editor

Cellular-Fibronectin and Matrix Metalloproteinase-9 in Patients With Stroke

P. Laudanski, MD, PhD

Department of Pathophysiology of Pregnancy

J. Szamatowicz, MD, PhD

Department of Gynecology

H. Laudanska, MD, PhD

Department of Dermatology, Medical University of Bialystok, Bialystok, Poland

An extract of the first 250 words of the full text is provided, because this article has no abstract.

To the Editor:

The article by Castellanos et al on the plasma cellular-fibronectin (c-Fn) and matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9) concentrations in patients with acute ischemic stroke needs some clarification.¹

In the Materials and Methods section it is stated that plasma MMP-9 levels were measured by a commercially available ELISA assay. The Amersham Biosciences, from which the assay was purchased, provides different types of assay for determination of MMP-9. One of them is for human MMP-9 and measures both free pro-MMP-9 and pro-MMP-9 complexed to TIMP-1. The other method, called MMP-9 activity assay, is used for determination of the active form of the compound.

It is not clear which form of MMP-9 was determined in the study. The MMP-9 human assay’s range of detection in plasma is 4 to 128 ng/mL, whereas the median values obtained in the study were within the range of 54 to 225 ng/mL. We therefore guess that the authors did not measure the active form of the enzyme because the assay range is much lower, 0.5 to 16 ng/mL. This could have given different results as to the changes in proteolytic activity, in agreement with findings in a study by our group.²

In our study the total (pro-, active and complexed) concentrations of MMP-9 were significantly higher in peritoneal fluid of women with endometriosis (reproductive-age inflammation-associated disease of women) than of healthy controls. No differences between the 2 groups were found in the concentrations of the active form of the compound. We suggested it was due to . . . [Full Text of this Article]

Mar Castellanos, MD, PhD

Department of Neurology, Hospital Universitari Doctor Josep Trueta, Girona, Spain

José Castillo, MD, PhD

Hospital Clínico Universitario Santiago de Compostela, Santiago de Compostela, Spain

Antoni Dávalos, MD, PhD

Department of Neurology, Hospital Universitari Doctor Josep Trueta, Girona, Spain