[Establishment of a method for detecting peripheral blood circulating brain microvascular endothelial cells, a novel biomarker for blood-brain barrier injury].

OBJECTIVE: To establish a method for detecting circulating brain microvascular endothelial cells (cBMECs), a novel biomarker of blood-brain barrier (BBB) injury. METHODS: Blood samples were collected from 33 patients with AIDS encephalitis and 13 healthy subjects for detection of cBMECs, cECs and EPCs using magnetic affinity isolation and immune identification technology. RESULTS: The numbers of cBMECs, cECs and EPCs were significantly higher in the AIDS patients than in the control subjects (t=4.298, P<0.01; t=4.886, P<0.01; t=4.889, P<0.01). An significant association was also noted between HIV load and cBMEC number (r=0.928, P<0.01). CONCLUSION: We have successfully established a method for detecting peripheral blood cBMECs, which can be of important value in non-invasive assessment of BBB injury.