Objectives: We investigated clinical implications of serum Tenascin-C (TN-C) levels in patients with 
acute myocardial infarction (AMI) treated with thrombolytic therapy. Background: TN-C, an 
extracellular matrix glycoprotein, is not normally expressed in the adult heart, but transiently appears 
during pathological conditions and plays important roles in tissue remodeling. Methods: Serum TN-C 
levels were measured by ELISA in 60 cases presented with acute STEMI and 20 apparently healthy 
controls. Results: The mean serum TN-C level of AMI patients on admission was significantly higher 
than that of controls (57.5±19.9 ng/ml vs. 34.1±3.2 ng/ml; p> 0.0001), Follow-up examination (mean: 
6 months) revealed that 17 of 60 AMI (28%) patients showed left ventricular (LV) remodeling (≥20% 
end-diastolic volume increase), and in 6 (10%), major adverse cardiac events (MACE) were detected. 
TN-C levels were significantly higher in remodeling versus non-remodeling group (80.3±19.9 vs 
47.6±9.5 ng/ml p=0.002). By receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) analysis, clearly discriminated 
prediction of LV remodeling compared with other variables. Best predictive values of TN-C for 
remodeling were 68.9 ng/ml (81% sensitivity and 95% specificity, AUC=0.872). High serum TN-C 
level and DM were correlated with higher incidence of MACE. Conclusions: The findings suggest 
that serum TN-C levels might be useful in predicting LV remodeling and prognosis after AMI.