The role of haematological traits in risk of ischaemic stroke and its subtypes

Abstract

Thrombosis and platelet activation play a central role in stroke pathogenesis, and antiplatelet and anticoagulant therapies are central to stroke prevention. However, whether haematological traits contribute equally to all ischaemic stroke subtypes is uncertain. Furthermore, identification of associations with new traits may offer novel treatment opportunities. The aim of this research was to ascertain causal relationships between a wide range of haematological traits and ischaemic stroke and its subtypes. We obtained summary statistics from 27 published genome-wide association studies of haematological traits involving over 375 000 individuals, and genetic associations with stroke from the MEGASTROKE Consortium (n = 67 000 stroke cases). Using two-sample Mendelian randomization we analysed the association of genetically elevated levels of 36 blood cell traits (platelets, mature/immature red cells, and myeloid/lymphoid/compound white cells) and 49 haemostasis traits (including clotting cascade factors and markers of platelet function) with risk of developing ischaemic (AIS), cardioembolic (CES), large artery (LAS), and small vessel stroke (SVS). Several factors on the intrinsic clotting pathway were significantly associated (P < 3.85 × 10−4) with CES and LAS, but not with SVS (e.g. reduced factor VIII activity with AIS/CES/LAS; raised factor VIII antigen with AIS/CES; and increased factor XI activity with AIS/CES). On the common pathway, increased gamma (γ′) fibrinogen was significantly associated with AIS/CES. Furthermore, elevated plateletcrit was significantly associated with AIS/CES, eosinophil percentage of white cells with LAS, and thrombin-activatable fibrinolysis inhibitor activation peptide antigen with AIS. We also conducted a follow-up analysis in UK Biobank, which showed that amongst individuals with atrial fibrillation, those with genetically lower levels of factor XI are at reduced risk of AIS compared to those with normal levels of factor XI. These results implicate components of the intrinsic and common pathways of the clotting cascade, as well as several other haematological traits, in the pathogenesis of CES and possibly LAS, but not SVS. The lack of associations with SVS suggests thrombosis may be less important for this stroke subtype. Plateletcrit and factor XI are potentially tractable new targets for secondary prevention of ischaemic stroke, while factor VIII and γ′ fibrinogen require further population-based studies to ascertain their possible aetiological roles.

Fibrinogen is associated with glucose metabolism and cardiovascular outcomes in patients with coronary artery disease

“…Fibrinogen (Fib), as a thromboplastic and inflammatory marker, facilitates blood viscosity, platelet aggregation, fibrin cross-linking, and plays a pivotal role in the progression of atherosclerosis [1,2]. Previous studies showed that Fib was not only an indicator of subclinical cardiovascular diseases, such as coronary artery calcification and intima-media thickness of the carotid artery [3,4], but was also independently associated with the development of coronary artery disease (CAD), hypertension, stroke, as well as adverse cardiovascular events [5][6][7][8][9].…”

D-Dimer to Fibrinogen Ratio as a Novel Prognostic Marker in Patients After Undergoing Percutaneous Coronary Intervention: A Retrospective Cohort Study

“…10,11 Previous studies have shown that fibrinogen was not only independently associated with the development of CAD, hypertension and stroke, but also an independent predictor of long-term prognosis in patients after PCI. [12][13][14] More recently, it has been reported that the D-dimer to fibrinogen ratio (DFR) is a novel predictor for the outcomes of pulmonary thromboembolism (PTE), ischemic stroke and gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs). [15][16][17] However, the relationship between the DFR and prognosis in CAD patients after PCI has not been investigated.…”

Coagulation factor XII, XI, and VIII activity levels and secondary events after first ischemic stroke

“…33 Interestingly, reduced FVIII activity was associated with ischemic stroke risk, and specifically the cardioembolic and large artery atherosclerosis subtypes (the latter only among the European population). 33 Our study was not powered to investigate stratum-specific effects across the stroke subtypes, but this area warrants future research also in the context of secondary event prevention.…”