Association between Circulatory and Plaque Resistin Levels with Carotid Plaque Instability and Ischemic Stroke Events

Abstract

ses of ischemic stroke. The risk of ischemic stroke increases with the degree of carotid stenosis and plaque vulnerability. The aim of this study was to investigate the association of circulating and plaque resistin levels with plaque vulnerability and ischemic stroke events in patients with moderate- to high-grade carotid artery stenosis.
 Methods: 40 patients with ischemic stroke events and 38 neurologically asymptomatic patients scheduled for carotid endarterectomy were recruited for this study. Fasting blood samples for laboratory analysis were collected preoperatively and serum resistin levels were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays. Carotid endarterectomy specimens were analyzed according to the gold-standard procedure of histological classification. Plaque resistin expression was determined by standard immunohistochemical procedure.
 Results: Serum resistin levels and resistin plaque expression were found to be significantly higher in subjects with unstable carotid plaque (P < .001) while significantly higher serum resistin levels were also present in patients with ischemic stroke events (P < .001). In univariate stepwise logistic regression analysis, higher serum resistin levels were significantly associated with plaque instability (OR 2.223, 95% CI 1.488-3.320, P < .0001) and ischemic stroke events (OR 1.237, 95% CI 1.079-1.420, P = .002). There was also a significant association between higher serum and plaque resistin expression (OR 1.663, 95% CI1.332-2.077, P < .0001). These associations remained significant in all models of multivariate logistic regression analysis. High serum and plaque resistin levels were also significantly associated with specific histological features of plaque instability. 
 Conclusion: The results suggests that serum resistin levels may be used as a potential biomarker of plaque vulnerability and ischemic stroke events in patients with moderate- to high-grade carotid artery stenosis and highlight the possible relationship that plaque resistin expression has with histological features of plaque vulnerability.

Carotid Intraplaque Neovascularization Predicts Ischemic Stroke Recurrence in Patients with Carotid Atherosclerosis

“…Our results show that IPN was common among patients with recurrent stroke, and the proportion of patients with grade 2 IPN was significantly higher than that in the nonrecurrence group. This finding is consistent with the hypothesis that vulnerable plaque is the main cause of ischemic cerebrovascular events [16]. Our finding also represents a proof of concept that neovascularization is one of the hallmarks of carotid plaque instability.…”

Selected adipose tissue hormones in the blood of patients with ischaemic cerebral stroke

“…Efstathiou et al [39] showed a worse course of ischaemic stroke and a higher death rate in patients with high resistin blood level, which was not confirmed in studies conducted by Bienek et al [25,29,38]. Our study did not confirm this correlation either.…”

“…this correlation not only in patients with past ischaemic cerebral stroke but also in asymptomatic patients with unstable atherosclerotic plaque [25].…”

IL-6, IL-1RA and Resistin as Predictors of Left Ventricular Remodelling and Major Adverse Cardiac Events in Patients with Acute ST Elevation Myocardial Infarction

“…This is in concordance with the results obtained by Chu et al, who observed significantly elevated resistin levels within the first week after ACS onset, also found a positive correlation between resistin levels and myocardial injury markers and a negative correlation with LVEF [ 49 ]. This is probably explained by recent evidence showing that resistin is related to plaque instability [ 50 ]. In this trial from 2018, the levels of resistin were higher in the serum of ACS patients (more than twice as high) and also in vulnerable atherosclerotic plaques [ 50 ].…”