Exploratory study to suggest the possibility of MMP-8 and MMP-9 serum levels as early markers for remission after traumatic spinal cord injury.

Study Design: A prospective observational study reporting the correlation between matrix metalloprotein serum levels and remission after traumatic spinal cord injury (SCI).
Objectives: To investigate serum cytokine levels as predictive markers.
Setting: Germany, Rhineland-Palatinate (Rheinland-Pfalz).
Methods: Between 2010 and 2015, data sets from 115 patients (33 female, 82 male) after traumatic SCI were recorded at the BG Trauma Centre Ludwigshafen. We examined the serum levels of Matix metallopraoteinases (MMPs) MMP-2, MMP-8, MMP-9, MMP-10 and MMP-12 over a 12-week period, that is, at admission and 4, 9, 12 h, 1 and 3 days and 1, 2, 4, 8 and 12 weeks after trauma. Following the same match-pair procedure as in our previous studies, we selected 10 patients with SCI and neurological remission (Group 1) and 10 patients with an initial American Spinal Injury Association (ASIA) A grade and no neurological remission (Group 0). Ten patients with an isolated vertebral fracture without neurological deficits served as a control group (Group C). Our analysis was performed using a Luminex Performance Human High Sensitivity Cytokine Panel. Multivariate logistic regression models were used to examine the predictive value of MMPs with respect to neurological remission vs no neurological remission.
Results: MMP-8 and MMP-9 provided significantly different values. The favoured predictive model allows to differentiate between neurological remission and no neurological remission in 97% of cases.
Conclusions: The results indicate that further studies with an enlarged collective are warranted in order to investigate current monitoring, prognostic and tracking techniques as well as scoring systems.