Association of plasma VEGF with futile recanalization and intracranial angiogenesis in ischemic stroke post-endovascular treatment.

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to compare baseline and subsequent vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) levels in predicting futile recanalization (FR) in acute ischemic stroke (AIS) patients undergoing endovascular treatment (EVT), and to explore the association between angiogenesis and VEGF. METHODS: 84 participants were recruited, including 46 AIS in the EVT group, 20 AIS in the conventional treatment group, and 18 healthy controls. Plasma VEGF levels were measured at different time points. FR was defined as a modified Rankin scale score of 3-6 at 3 months. Multivariable analysis evaluated whether VEGF levels at different time points independently predicted FR, and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves assessed their predictive value. Using intracranial lesion side vascular imaging, the Maas scoring system assessed angiogenesis post-onset, with scores of 4 to 5 indicating angiogenesis. RESULTS: In the conventional treatment group, VEGF levels significantly decreased by day 7, while in the EVT group, reduction was observed as early as day 3. After adjusting for potential confounders, only VEGF levels on day 3 emerged as an independent predictor of FR. The combined model incorporating VEGF levels on day 3 with other factors effectively predicted FR (area under the curve = 0.916; sensitivity = 84.21 %; specificity = 100 %, P<0.0001). Plasma VEGF levels were notably higher in patients with angiogenesis in specific brain regions compared to those without angiogenesis at days 1, 3, 7, and 14 (P<0.05). CONCLUSION: VEGF levels on the 3rd day post-EVT demonstrate superior predictive value for FR. Elevated VEGF levels correlate with angiogenesis, suggesting its potential as a therapeutic target.

Ischemic core volume is associated with hemorrhagic transformation post endovascular thrombectomy.

INTRODUCTION: Symtomatic hemorrhagic transformation(sHT) was defined as any intracerebral hemorrhage that combined with clinical deterioration. While recent studies showed low rates of sHT in large core ischemic strokes treated with endovascular thrombectomy (EVT), the specific impact of core size on overall hemorrhagic transformation (HT) remains unclear. We aim to investigate the relationship between ischemic core size and development of HT post thrombectomy. METHODS: This prospective study enrolled acute ischemic stroke (AIS) patients with anterior large vessel occlusion undergoing EVT who had baseline MRI from 2017 to 2019. Pre-EVT Arterial Spin Labeling (ASL) and Diffusion-Weighted Imaging (DWI) scans were performed for volume calculations. Primary outcome was HT assessed within 72 h post EVT. Multivariable logistic regression was used to analyze the associations between baseline DWI and ASL volumes and HT occurrence. Discriminative ability for HT was compared using receiver operating curve analysis (c-statistic). RESULTS: We included 101 patients (median age: 64 [IQR 56-74] years, baseline NIHSS 13 [IQR 9-16]). Median DWI and ASL volume were 21.0 ml [IQR 8.3-47.2] and 105 ml [59.5-172.9], respectively. 16.8 % recieved intravenous thrombolysis before EVT. HT occurred in 36.6 % of patients, including 16.8 % with sHT. Baseline DWI volume was independently associated with HT (OR = 1.030, 95 % CI 1.008 to 1.053, P = 0.009), while ASL volume wasn't statistically significant(P = 0.330). The DWI model was superior to ASL model in predicting HT within 72 h (c-statistic, 0.787).Neither DWI (P = 0.149) nor ASL volume (P = 0.834) effectively indicated sHT. CONCLUSIONS: DWI-based ischemic core volume correlates significantly with HT within 72 h post successful thrombectomy. This highlights the potential clinical utility of DWI in guiding treatment decisions for this population.

Risk factors, prognostic factors, and nomograms for synchronous brain metastases of solid tumors: a population-based study.

In previous literatures, we found that similar studies on the short-term prognosis of synchronous brain metastases (S-BM) from other systems are rare. Our aim was to evaluate the early mortality rate of patients with S-BM from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Result (SEER) database and explore the risk factors for early mortality (≤ 1 year). We used Kaplan-Meier (KM) curves to evaluate early mortality in patients with S-BM from the SEER database. Logistic regression analyses were used to identify significant independent prognostic factors in patients with a follow-up time > 12 months. And the meaningful factors were used to construct a nomogram of overall early death. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was used to test the predictive ability of the model, while the decision curve analysis (DCA) curve was used to validate the clinical application ability of the model. A total of 47,284 patients were used for univariate and multivariate logistic regression analysis to screen variables to constructing a nomogram. In the all-cause early mortality specific model, the area under the ROC (AUC) curve of the training set was 0.764 (95% confidence interval (CI): 0.758-0.769), and the AUC of the validation set was 0.761 (95% CI: 0.752-0.770). The DCA calibration curves of the training set and validation set indicate that the 1-year early mortality rate predicted by this model is consistent with the actual situation. We found that the 1-year early mortality rate was 76.4%. We constructed a validated nomogram using these covariates to effectively predict 1-year early mortality in patients with S-BM. This nomogram can help clinical workers screen high-risk patients to develop more reasonable treatment plans.

Potential prognostic value of CSF-targeted proteomics across the Alzheimer's disease continuum.

BACKGROUND: Core biomarkers for Alzheimer's disease (AD), such as Aß42 and tau, have demonstrated high prognostic accuracy but do not fully capture the complex pathophysiology of AD. In this study, our objective was to identify novel cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) biomarkers using proteomics across the entire AD continuum to predict conversion to AD and explore their involvement in AD pathogenesis. METHODS: A cohort of 186 cognitively normal (CN), 127 subjective memory complaint (SMC), 79 early mild cognitive impairment (EMCI), 249 late MCI (LMCI), and 132 AD individuals was analyzed, with a follow-up period of over 3 years for non-AD participants. CSF 65 peptides, as well as hippocampal and entorhinal volumes were analyzed, and cognitive function was evaluated using the 13-item cognitive subscale of the Alzheimer's Disease Assessment Scale (ADAS-Cog 13). Cox proportional hazards models and mediation analysis were performed to investigate associations and causal relationships. RESULTS: During the follow-up, approximately one-fourth (146/580) of the non-AD participants progressed to AD. After adjusting for baseline diagnosis (CN to LMCI) and other variables, multivariable Cox regression analysis identified three peptides (VAELEDEK, VSFELFADK, and VVSSIEQK) as significant predictors of conversion to AD. Incorporating these three peptides into the initial model significantly improved the C-statistic from 0.82 to 0.85 for predicting AD conversion, surpassing the predictive ability of Aß42 and P-tau. Moreover, hippocampal and entorhinal volumes mediated 30.3-53.8% of the association between the three peptides and ADAS-Cog 13 scores. CONCLUSIONS: These findings underscore the potential of these three peptides as robust prognostic biomarker candidates for AD conversion across the entire AD continuum, with a mechanism involving the mediation of hippocampal and entorhinal volumes.

Association between CSF Aß42 and amyloid negativity in patients with different stage mild cognitive impairment.

Whether the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) biomarkers of amyloid-positive and amyloid-negative patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) or Alzheimer's disease (AD) are significantly different is still unknown. The purpose of this study is to compare the differences in CSF total tau, P-tau and Aß42 in patients with amyloid-positive positron emission tomography (PET) and amyloid-negative PET, and to explore related risk factors in cognitive normal (CN), early MCI (EMCI), late MCI (LMCI) and AD. 558 participants (140 CN; 233 EMCI; 125 LMCI; 60 AD) were recruited in this study from the AD Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI) database. The associations between CSF biomarkers were assessed by partial correlation analysis. The relations between significant variables were determined by multinomial logistic regression. Compared with amyloid-positive PET patients, patients with amyloid-negative PET had higher CSF Aß42 and lower P-tau in the whole samples. The concentration of Aß42 in the positive amyloid PET was significantly different in different groups, but not the negative amyloid PET (CN vs. LMCI; CN vs. AD; EMCI vs. AD, all P < 0.05). When amyloid PET was positive, a weak correlation was found between the levels of Aß42 and P-tau only in CN group. However, a moderate degree of correlation between Aß42 and P-tau was found in EMCI and LMCI when amyloid PET was negative. After covariates adjustment, CSF Aß42 was significantly associated with EMCI [adjusted odds ratio (OR) = 0.99, 95 % confidence interval (CI) = 0.99-1.00, P = 0.02) and LMCI (adjusted OR = 0.99, 95 % CI = 0.99-1.00, P = 0.007)] in patients with negative amyloid PET, not in patients with positive amyloid PET. Our findings highlight that Aß42 had strong correlations with other biomarkers and might help reduce risk of EMCI or LMCI in patients with amyloid negativity.

The association between vascular endothelial growth factor gene polymorphisms and stroke: A PRISMA-compliant meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: Numerous studies showed that vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) gene polymorphisms were linked with the regularity of stroke, but the results remained controversial. The aim of this meta-analysis was to determine the associations between VEGF gene polymorphisms and the risk of stroke. METHODS: A systematic literature search of PubMed, Embase, Wed of Science, The Cochrane Library, Elsevier, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, China Biology Medicine disc, WanFang Data, VIP Database for Chinese Technical Periodicals, and Science paper Online was conducted. Two authors independently assessed trial quality and extracted data. The pooled odds ratio (OR) with 95% confidence interval (CI) was used to assess the strength of associations. Begger funnel plot and Egger test were used to estimate the publication bias of included studies. Heterogeneity assumption was assessed by Cochran Chi-squared-based Q-statistic test and I test. RESULTS: Thirteen publications including 23 trails with a total of 3794 stroke patients and 3094 control subjects were enrolled. About 3747 cases and 2868 controls for +936C/T, 2134 cases and 1424 controls for -2578C/A, and 2187 cases and 1650 controls for -1154G/A were examined, respectively. The results indicated that VEGF +936C/T (T vs C, OR = 1.19, 95% CI = 1.01-1.40) or -2578C/A (A vs C, OR = 1.13, 95% CI = 1.02-1.27) was positively associated with the risk of stroke, whereas there was no association between -1154G/A (A vs G, OR = 0.99, 95% CI = 0.87-1.11) polymorphism and stroke risk in our study. Among the subgroup analyses on ethnicity, the results showed that VEGF +936C/T was an increased risk of stroke in Asian population (T vs C, OR = 1.21, 95% CI = 1.01-1.44), but not -1154G/A. CONCLUSION: Our findings suggest that VEGF +936C/T and -2578C/A might be related to the risk of stroke, especially in the Asian population, but not -1154G/A.

Beneficial Role of Rosuvastatin in Blood-Brain Barrier Damage Following Experimental Ischemic Stroke.

Hemorrhage transformation is the most challenging preventable complication in thrombolytic therapy and is related to recombinant tissue plasminogen activator (rt-PA)-induced blood-brain barrier (BBB) damage. Intraperitoneal injections of normal or high doses of rosuvastatin were administered to Balb/c mice 20 min prior to middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) surgery for 3 h followed by reperfusion with rt-PA thrombolytic therapy and cerebral blood flow monitoring to investigate whether a high or normal dose of rosuvastatin reduces BBB damage after brain ischemia and rt-PA reperfusion. The integrity of the BBB was ameliorated by normal and high doses of rosuvastatin as determined from Evans blue staining, ultrastructure assessments and immunochemistry at 24 h after reperfusion. The levels of TJ proteins were preserved, potentially by targeting platelet-derived growth factor receptor α (PDGFR-α) and low-density lipoprotein receptor-related protein 1 (LRP1) to inhibit the expression of matrix metalloproteinase proteins (MMPs) by reducing the levels of phosphorylated c-jun-N-terminal kinase (pJNK), phosphorylated mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) p38 (pP38) and increasing the levels of phosphorylated extracellular regulated protein kinases (pERK), and tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinases (TIMPs), as inferred from Western blotting and molecular docking analyses. In summary, rosuvastatin reduced rt-PA therapy-associated BBB permeability by PDGFR-α- and LRP1-associated MAPK pathways to reduce the mortality of mice, and a normal dose of rosuvastatin exerted greater preventative effects on reducing BBB damage than did a high dose in the time window of thrombolytic therapy.