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Chronic Systemic Immune Dysfunction in African-Americans with Small Vessel-Type Ischemic Stroke

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Abstract

The incidence of small vessel-type (lacunar) ischemic strokes is greater in African-Americans compared to whites. The chronic inflammatory changes that result from lacunar stroke are poorly understood. To elucidate these changes, we measured serum inflammatory and thrombotic biomarkers in African-Americans at least 6 weeks post-stroke compared to control individuals. Cases were African-Americans with lacunar stroke (n = 30), and controls were age-matched African-Americans with no history of stroke or other major neurologic disease (n = 37). Blood was obtained >6 weeks post-stroke and was analyzed for inflammatory biomarkers. Freshly isolated peripheral blood mononuclear cells were stimulated with lipopolysaccharide (LPS) to assess immune responsiveness in a subset of cases (n = 5) and controls (n = 4). After adjustment for covariates, the pro-inflammatory biomarkers, soluble vascular cadherin adhesion molecule-1 (sVCAM-1) and thrombin anti-thrombin (TAT), were independently associated with lacunar stroke. Immune responsiveness to LPS challenge was abnormal in cases compared to controls. African-Americans with lacunar stroke had elevated blood levels of VCAM-1 and TAT and an abnormal response to acute immune challenge >6 weeks post-stroke, suggesting a chronically compromised systemic inflammatory response.

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Acknowledgments

The authors thank Ms. Patricia Frazier and Ms. Catherine Brewer for technical assistance.

Funding

This study was funded by the American Stroke Association/Bugher Foundation Center for Stroke Prevention Research.

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Compliance with Ethical Standards

ᅟ

Research Involving Human Participants and/or Animals

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Informed Consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Neurobiology and Anatomy, Center for Basic and Translational Stroke Research, and Center for Neuroscience, West Virginia University School of Medicine, Box 9128, Morgantown, WV, 26506, USA

    Candice M. Brown

  2. Department of Neurology, One Medical Center Boulevard, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC, 27157, USA

    Cheryl D. Bushnell

  3. Department of Biostatistics and Bioinformatics, Duke University Medical Center, Box 2721, Durham, NC, 27110, USA

    Gregory P. Samsa

  4. Department of Neurology and Kentucky Neuroscience Institute, University of Kentucky, 740 S. Limestone Street, Room L445, Lexington, KY, 40536, USA

    Larry B. Goldstein

  5. Department of Neurology, Duke University Medical Center, Box 2900, Durham, NC, 27710, USA

    Carol A. Colton

Authors
  1. Candice M. Brown
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  2. Cheryl D. Bushnell
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  3. Gregory P. Samsa
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  4. Larry B. Goldstein
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  5. Carol A. Colton
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Correspondence to Candice M. Brown.

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Brown, C.M., Bushnell, C.D., Samsa, G.P. et al. Chronic Systemic Immune Dysfunction in African-Americans with Small Vessel-Type Ischemic Stroke. Transl. Stroke Res. 6, 430–436 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12975-015-0424-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12975-015-0424-8

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