Clinical Significance
In heart, in addition to the MM-CK homodimer also the heterodimer consisting of one muscle (MM-CK) and one brain-type (MB-CK) subunit is expressed. This latter is an important serum marker for myocardial infarction, for it is released from damaged myocardial cells into the blood where it can be detected by clinical chemistry. Since no other organ than cardiac muscle expresses significant levels of MB-CK, this clinical test is still fairly reliable, together with troponin-T, for diagnosing a myocardial infarction.
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“Of what significance the light of day, if it is not the reflection of an inward dawn?—to what purpose is the veil of night withdrawn, if the morning reveals nothing to the soul? It is merely garish and glaring.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)