TIMP3 and atrial fibrillation: Though our study failed to find any differences in TIMP-1 gene expression in patients with CAD, patients with atrial fibrillation, cardiomyopathy or ischemic cardiomyopathy showed a significant decrease in TIMP-1 and TIMP-3 levels.23 Hence, this inconsistency is attributed to various types of heart diseases, types of sampling, the stage of disease, methodology and the studied population’s ethnicity.