Study On The Numbers And DNA Damage Of Circulating Endothelial Cells In Patients With Acute Ischemic Stroke

Object:Changes in the structure and function of the vascular endothelium play an important role in the occurrence and development of acute ischemic stroke(AIS).The use of circulating endothelial cells(CECs)as a biomarker to reflect the damage of the vascular endothelium has long been known.This study was to observe the changes of the numbers of circulating endothelial cells and the extent of DNA damage in the early stage and in the course of the disease in patients with acute ischemic stroke in order to further explore the potential correlation between acute ischemic stroke and endothelial injury.Methods:We studied 60 patients with acute ischemic stroke and selected20 healthy adults as controls.We classified subgroups of patients with acute ischemic stroke based on their risk factors.The National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale(NIHSS)was used to assess the extent of neurological deficits.We defined CECs as positive for CD146 and FITC-UEA-1,separated and counted CECs using biotinylated immunomagnetic separation technology,and detected CECs DNA damage by single cell gel electrophoresis(SCGE).Results:1.Compared with the healthy control group,the numbers of CECs in the AIS group was significantly increased on the 1st and 7th day(P<0.0001).2.The numbers of CECs on the 1st day of AIS group was significantly higher than that on the 7th day(P<0.0001).This shows that the level of CECs in the early stage of acute ischemic stroke is significantly higher;at the same time,as the disease progresses,CECs are decreased on the 7th day,but CECs have not been observed to return to normal levels.3.The results of AIS subgroup analysis showed that the numbers of CECs on the 7th day was significantly different between the subgroups of diabetes(P<0.05).Multiple linear regression results further showed that the numbers of CECs in the AIS subgroup on the 7th day were significantly different between the subgroups of diabetes(R=0.343,R~2=0.118,F=7.749,P=0.007),indicating a linear regression relationship between the numbers of CECs on the 7th day of AIS group and diabetes mellitus.However,combined diabetes could only account for 11.8%of the level of CECs variation on the 7th day of the AIS group,which may suggest that the combined diabetes has little effect on the level of CECs on the 7th day of the AIS group.4.There was no significant correlation between the numbers of CECs on the 1st day of the AIS group and the admission NIHSS score(r=0.135,P=0.302).There was also no significant correlation between the numbers of CECs on the 7th day of the AIS group and the NIHSS score of the 7th day(r=0.246,P=0.058).5.Compared with the healthy control group,CECs DNA electrophoresis on the 1st and 7th day of AIS group showed obvious comet-like shape,and the DNA content of appendix increased(P<0.0001).This indicates that the AIS group's CECs DNA is more severely damaged than the healthy control group.6.There was no significant difference in the degree of DNA damage of CECs between the 1st and 7th day in the AIS group(P=0.3601).No further changes in the extent of DNA damage in CECs have been observed during the course of acute ischemic stroke.Conclusions:The numbers of CECs in the early stage of acute ischemic stroke is significantly higher,indicating that CECs is closely related to the occurrence of acute ischemic stroke.The numbers of CECs in the course of acute ischemic stroke is obviously higher than normal and shows moderate damage.These phenomena may suggest that CECs are closely related to the endothelial injury of acute ischemic stroke.