Rituximab in Patients With ST-elevation Myocardial Infarction

Inclusion Criteria: * Age ≥ 18 years with no upper limit (women must be either postmenopausal defined as being amenorrhoeic for greater than 2 years with an appropriate clinical profile, e.g. age appropriate (\>55 years old), history of vasomotor symptoms) or having documented hysterectomy and/or bilateral oophorectomy) ; * Clinical evidence at presentation of anterior ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) defined as symptoms suggestive of acute myocardial ischemia, an electrocardiogram showing ST-segment elevation ≥2 mm in ≥2 contiguous leads in V1 to V4; * Complete occlusion (i.e. TIMI flow 0-1) of proximal or mid left anterior descending (LAD) coronary artery on urgent angiography interpreted as the infarct-related artery (IRA); * Onset of worse symptoms within 48 hours before primary PCI; * Patients with neutrophils \>1.5 x 109/L at the moment of admission * Patients with platelet counts \>75 x 109 /L at the moment of admission * Plan to provide primary percutaneous angioplasty (PPCI) for the patient within 2 hours of ECG diagnosis; * Ability to start infusion of rituximab within 3 hours of PPCI ; * Written informed consent. Exclusion Criteria: Exclusion Criteria : * History of previous MI; * Presentation with cardiac arrest; * Cardiogenic shock (defined as systolic blood pressure \<90 mmHg for \>30minutes, or necessitating vasopressors to achieve a blood pressure ≥90 mmHg); * Cardiac electrical instability (defined as complete heart block needing temporary pacin…