When someone has a serious heart attack, every minute matters. Doctors need to know as quickly as possible who is likely to recover well and who may develop dangerous complications.
Choosing the right treatment early can make a major difference. A new study by researchers at the University of Münster has discovered that the answer may already be hiding inside a routine blood sample.
Their findings, published in Nature Cardiovascular Research, suggest that immature immune cells can provide an early warning of which patients face the highest short-term risk.
A heart attack happens when blood flow to part of the heart is suddenly blocked, preventing oxygen from reaching heart muscle. As heart cells become damaged, the body’s immune system responds immediately.
The bone marrow, where blood cells are made, starts producing and releasing large numbers of neutrophils, the most common type of white blood cell. Normally, only mature neutrophils leave the bone marrow. During a major emergency, however, younger cells are released before they are fully developed because the body needs help as fast as possible.
The research team wanted to know whether these immature cells could tell doctors how severe a patient’s illness really is. They compared blood samples from more than 200 people who had suffered heart attacks, strokes, or heart failure with samples from healthy volunteers.
Special laboratory equipment allowed them to identify different stages of neutrophil development and measure how many immature cells were present.
The results showed that the sickest patients had the greatest numbers of immature neutrophils in their blood. The highest levels appeared in people with ST-elevation myocardial infarction, the most dangerous type of heart attack caused by complete blockage of a coronary artery.
Some patients even had extremely immature cells known as preneutrophils circulating in their blood, showing that the bone marrow had activated its emergency reserves.
The scientists also measured substances involved in inflammation and found that rising numbers of immature immune cells matched stronger inflammatory responses. This suggested that the immune system and the damaged heart were communicating closely throughout the illness.
To make sure the findings were reliable, the researchers repeated the analysis in two more patient groups involving several hundred additional people.
Once again, the immature granulocyte count accurately predicted the risk of death during the first month after a heart attack. Remarkably, it remained a strong predictor even after taking many other medical risk factors into account.
An important advantage of this discovery is its practicality. Doctors do not need complicated or costly technology because immature granulocytes can be measured through a standard differential blood count that is already available in almost every hospital laboratory. This means the approach could be introduced relatively easily if future research confirms its value.
Earlier identification of high-risk patients could allow doctors to provide more intensive observation, quicker treatment decisions, and better use of hospital resources. Instead of treating every patient in exactly the same way, healthcare teams could tailor care according to each person’s individual level of risk.
The researchers emphasize that more studies are still needed before hospitals adopt this method routinely. Larger international studies must confirm that the test works equally well in different healthcare systems and patient populations.
They also plan to investigate the biological signals that tell the bone marrow to release immature cells so rapidly, as these signals might become targets for future medicines.
This study is an important step toward more personalized emergency care. Rather than relying only on traditional heart tests, doctors may soon be able to use the immune system itself as an early warning system.
Because the test is simple, inexpensive, and already widely available, it has the potential to improve care without placing extra pressure on hospitals.
While additional research is essential, the findings offer real promise that a routine blood test could help identify patients who need urgent attention and ultimately improve survival after severe heart attacks.
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Source: University of Münster.
