Allergic inflammation is thought to play a role in atherogenesis and atherosclerotic disease
progression. IgE may activate mast cells and macrophages located within atheromatous
lesions, which may contribute to local inflammation and disease progression. On the other
hand, increased IgE levels in individuals with acute myocardial infarction might also be the
consequence of immunological reactions to damaged coronary arteries or myocardium. In
this study, total IgE and mast cell tryptase were measured in a series of forensic autopsy
cases showing various degrees of coronary artery disease, in order to correlate laboratory
results with morphological findings and compare them to conclusions reported in the
clinical setting. A total of 84 subjects were selected and two study groups were
retrospectively formed, a non-allergic, cardiac death group (42 cases) and a non-allergic,
non-cardiac control group (42 cases). Our findings indicated that a portion of acute
coronary syndromes and coronary deaths characterized by coronary atherosclerotic lesions
of various severities are also characterized by increased total IgE and mast cell tryptase
levels, thus corroborating the data previously reported in both clinical and forensic
literature on this topic as well as the necessity of combining morphological investigations
focusing on the heart and coronary arteries with biochemical analyses.