Could cMyC be a better marker than troponins for diagnosing heart attacks?

The biological variability of cardiac myosin-binding protein C (cMyC) and its ability to assist in the early triage of patients with suspected acute myocardial infarction (Dr Bashir Alaour)

Every day, hundreds of people go to hospital with symptoms that could indicate a heart attack. Identifying and treating someone who is having a heart attack quickly is essential, to limit the damage it causes to their heart. Hospital doctors currently rely on the measurement of certain proteins in the blood, called troponins, to prove or rule out heart attack. However, troponins take a while to appear in the blood, which might delay diagnosis and treatment. cMyC is a protein that has recently been shown recently to be released during a heart attack. It can be detected in the blood earlier than troponins, and these researchers have shown that it has the potential to be used for the rapid diagnosis of a heart attack. However, researchers must first study the range of cMyC levels that exist in healthy people, this basis will then be used to help identify what “elevated” levels look like during a suspected heart attack. They will also conduct a study in an Accident and Emergency Department to determine whether cMyC performs better than current troponin tests in providing accurate and early measurements of a diverse group of patients with suspected heart attacks. This research could be a stepping stone towards bringing cMyC testing into clinical practice to speed up treatment, and improve recovery after heart attack.