Objective To investigate the relationship of clinical classification of coronary heart diseases (CHD) with the expression of extracellular matrix metalloproteinase inducer (EMMPRIN) in peripheral blood mononuclear cells of CHD patients. Methods A total of 179 CHD cases diagnosed by coronary angiography in our department from September 2012 to May 2013 were recruited in this study. They were divided into 3 groups according to the clinical types: stable angina pectoris group (SAP, n＝35), unstable angina pectoris group (UAP, n＝76), and acute myocardial infarction group (AMI, n＝68). Another 30 healthy individuals at the same period served as normal controls. Mean fluorescence intensity (MFI) of EMMPRIN in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) were examined by flow cytometry. Serum level of high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) was measured with immune velocity assay. The correlation of the expression of EMMPRIN was analyzed with the Gensini scores by coronary angiography. Results The expression of EMMPRIN in PBMCs was significantly higher in AMI, UAP and SAP groups than in the controls (P＜0.05). The expression was also positively correlated with the number of involved vessels, which was increased gradually in normal controls, single-vessel, double-vessel, and triple-vessel disease groups sequentially (P＜0.05). The EMMPRIN MFI of the PBMCs had positive correlation with the serum level of hs-CRP and Gensini scores in coronary arterial lesion. Conclusion The expression of EMMPRIN is correlated with the clinical classification of CHD.