Background—Experimental interleukin-1 receptor antagonist gene overexpression has shown that interleukin-1 receptor antagonist is cardioprotective during global cardiac ischemia. The aim of the present study was to test the impact of an exogenous recombinant human interleukin-1 receptor antagonist (anakinra) in experimental acute myocardial infarction.

Methods and Results—Two animal studies were conducted: one of immediate anakinra administration during ischemia in the mouse and one of delayed anakinra administration 24 hours after ischemia in the rat. Seventy-eight Institute of Cancer Research mice and 20 Wistar rats underwent surgical coronary artery ligation (or sham operation) and were treated with either anakinra 1 mg/kg or NaCl 0.9% (saline). Treatment was administered during surgery and then daily for 6 doses in the mice and starting on day 2 daily for 5 doses in the rats. Twenty-eight mice underwent infarct size assessment 24 hours after surgery, 6 saline-treated mice and 22 mice treated with increasing doses of anakinra (1 mg/kg [n=6], 10 mg/kg [n=6], and 100 mg/kg [n=10]); 6 mice were euthanized at 7 days for protein expression analysis. The remaining animals underwent transthoracic echocardiography before surgery and 7 days later just before death. Cardiomyocyte apoptosis was measured in the peri-infarct regions. The antiapoptotic effect of anakinra was tested in a primary rat cardiomyocyte culture during simulated ischemia and in vitro on caspase-1 and -9 activities. At 7 days, 15 of the 16 mice (94%) treated with anakinra were alive versus 11 of the 20 mice (55%) treated with saline (P=0.013). No differences in infarct size at 24 hours compared with saline were observed with the 1- and 10-mg/kg doses, whereas a 13% reduction in infarct size was found with the 100-mg/kg dose (P=0.015). Treatment with anakinra was associated with a significant reduction in cardiomyocyte apoptosis in both the immediate and delayed treatment groups (3.1±0.2% versus 0.5±0.3% [P<0.001] and 4.2±0.4% versus 1.1±0.2% [P<0.001], respectively). Compared with saline-treated animals, anakinra-treated mice and rats showed signs of more favorable ventricular remodeling. In vitro, anakinra significantly prevented apoptosis induced by simulated ischemia and inhibited caspase-1 and -9 activities.

Conclusions—Administration of anakinra within 24 hours of acute myocardial infarction significantly ameliorates the remodeling process by inhibiting cardiomyocyte apoptosis in 2 different experimental animal models of AMI. This may open the door for using anakinra to prevent postischemic cardiac remodeling and heart failure.