The predictive value of serum F-actin on the severity and early neurological deterioration of acute ischemic stroke: Predictive value of F-actin in stroke.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: F-actin is involved in the progression of ischemic stroke and is associated with the disruption of the blood-brain barrier. In this article, we evaluated serum F-actin as a biomarker in stroke severity and early neurological deterioration (END) in acute ischemic stroke. METHODS: In this study, serum F-actin was measured in consecutively collected 140 AIS patients and 144 healthy controls matched in gender and age by ELISA. Early neurological deterioration (END) was defined as the deterioration of neurological dysfunction within 72 hours of admission, with an increase of ≥ 4 points in the NIHSS score. Severe stroke was defined as a NIHSS score>8 at admission. RESULTS: The serum F-actin level in AIS was significantly higher than healthy controls (p = 0.041). In large-artery atherosclerosis stroke and cardioembolic stroke, serum F-actin were significantly higher than that in small artery occlusion stroke (padjust = 0.019, padjust < 0.001, respectively).F-actin level above the critical value (>1.37 µg/L) was significantly associated with severe stroke (OR, 3.015; 95 %CI, 1.014-8.963; p = 0.047) . In addition, elevated level of F-actin was significantly associated with END (OR, 1.323; 95 % CI, 1.001-1.747, p = 0.049). When the level of F-actin was above the critical value (>2.17 µg/L), its association with END remained significant (OR, 6.303; 95 %CI, 2.160-18.394; p < 0.001) . CONCLUSION: F-actin is an important blood biomarker in the early stage of AIS, and high levels of F-actin are valuable in determining the severity of stroke and predicting early neurological deterioration.