Legumain is a predictor of all-cause mortality and potential therapeutic target in acute myocardial infarction

The prognostic impact of extracellular matrix (ECM) modulation and its regulatory mechanism post-acute myocardial infarction (AMI), require further clarification. Herein, we explore the predictive role of legumain—which showed the ability in ECM degradation—in an AMI patient cohort and investigate the underlying mechanisms. A total of 212 AMI patients and 323 healthy controls were enrolled in the study. Moreover, AMI was induced in mice by permanent ligation of the left anterior descending artery and fibroblasts were adopted for mechanism analysis. Based on the cut-off value for the receiver-operating characteristics curve, AMI patients were stratified into low (n = 168) and high (n = 44) plasma legumain concentration (PLG) groups. However, PLG was significantly higher in AMI patients than that in the healthy controls (median 5.9 μg/L [interquartile range: 4.2–9.3 μg/L] vs. median 4.4 μg/L [interquartile range: 3.2–6.1 μg/L], P < 0.001). All-cause mortality was significantly higher in the high PLG group compared to that in the low PLG group (median follow-up period, 39.2 months; 31.8% vs. 12.5%; P = 0.002). Multivariate Cox regression analysis showed that high PLG was associated with increased all-cause mortality after adjusting for clinical confounders (HR = 3.1, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.4–7.0, P = 0.005). In accordance with the clinical observations, legumain concentration was also increased in peripheral blood, and infarcted cardiac tissue from experimental AMI mice. Pharmacological blockade of legumain with RR-11a, improved cardiac function, decreased cardiac rupture rate, and attenuated left chamber dilation and wall thinning post-AMI. Hence, plasma legumain concentration is of prognostic value in AMI patients. Moreover, legumain aggravates cardiac remodelling through promoting ECM degradation which occurs, at least partially, via activation of the MMP-2 pathway.