Background: The aim of this study was to describe a method to measure ischaemia-induced alterations of the binding capacity of serum albumin to exogenous nickel.
Methods: We measured the levels of cardiac troponin I (cTnI), serum albumin, ischaemia-modified albumin (IMA) measured by a cobalt-albumin binding assay (CABA), and a nickel-albumin binding assay (NABA) in the following groups: myocardial infarction (n = 32) and non-ischaemic chest pain (n = 64).
Results: IMA, cTnI and NABA levels were higher in the myocardial infarction group. NABA presented a higher ability to discriminate myocardial ischaemia than CABA.
Conclusions: Patients with myocardial infarction have reduced nickel binding to human serum albumin, and NABA may have an important role as an early marker of myocardial ischaemia.