About Blood Enzymes

Enzymes are protein substances that serve as biological catalysts that are capable of causing and accelerating the chemical reactions that are vital to life. Blood enzymes are produced in the various organs of the body, such as the liver, heart and kidney.

Diagnosis

• A number of diagnostic blood tests rely on blood enzymes as "markers," or key indicators of suspected conditions. These blood tests measure the levels of particular blood enzymes to diagnose damaged liver or heart tissue. Abnormal levels of a particular blood enzyme are often a sign of a health problem or disorder with one of the body's organs.

Mutation

• Blood enzymes are produced by various organs based on the individual's genetic codes in human DNA. Genetic mutations can therefore be diagnosed by the absence or abnormality of the enzymes themselves. For example, patients showing too low a level of a particular enzyme may be found to suffer from some genetic disease or syndrome.
  Blood enzymes thus play a key role in the early diagnosis and treatment of health conditions. Two blood enzymes commonly targeted in blood tests are liver and cardiac blood enzymes.

Liver

• The most common of all blood tests is for liver blood enzymes. When the cells of the liver are in less than full health, for example following a viral infection, liver enzymes can be released into the blood stream, where they can be detected using various tests. Typically, the first step in testing for liver damage is a simple blood test to look for the presence of certain liver blood enzymes that, under normal circumstances, are confined within the liver tissue. But when the liver is traumatized, these enzymes pass into the blood stream.

Cardiac

• A number of blood tests rely on the levels of cardiac blood enzymes in the blood as "heart damage markers." By measuring these enzyme levels, doctors can verify concerns that are raised in the early diagnosis of heart problems, typically in an emergency room or intensive care unit.

Heart Attacks

• A common blood test, for example, measures the levels of blood enzymes following a heart attack to determine how extensive the heart damage is. When a person has a heart attack, the damaged heart muscles release their enzymes into the blood stream, which can then be measured as an indicator of how seriously damaged the heart is.
  One such test is called creatine kinase (CK), which measures CK blood enzymes. It is commonly used to confirm the existence of heart muscle damage by measuring levels of the CK-MB enzyme, a type of CK enzyme found specifically in the heart muscle. Increases in the CK-MB enzyme above normal levels can be detected using this blood test about 6 hours after the start of a heart attack.