Publicaciones

Unraveling the potential of endothelial progenitor cells as a treatment following ischemic stroke

 

Custodia A, Ouro A, Sargento-Freitas J, Aramburu-Núñez M et al. Front Neurol. 2022 Sep 8;13:940682. doi: 10.3389/fneur.2022.940682. eCollection 2022. PMID: 36158970
Abstract: After stroke and other brain injuries, there is a high incidence of respiratory complications such as pneumonia or acute lung injury. The molecular mechanisms that drive the brain-lung interaction post-stroke have not yet been elucidated. We performed transient middle cerebral artery
occlusion (MCAO) and sham surgery on C57BL/6J mice and collected bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF), serum, brain, and lung homogenate samples 24 h after surgery. A 92 proteins-panel developed by Olink Proteomics® was used to analyze the content in BALF and lung homogenates. MCAO animals had higher protein concentration levels in BALF than sham-controls, but these levels did not correlate with the infarct volume. No alteration in alveolar-capillary barrier permeability was observed. A total of 12 and 14 proteins were differentially expressed between the groups (FDR < 0.1) in BALF and lung tissue homogenates, respectively. Of those, HGF, TGF-α, and CCL2 were identified as the most relevant to this study. Their protein expression patterns were verified by ELISA. This study confirmed that post-stroke lung damage was not associated with increased lung permeability or cerebral ischemia severity. Furthermore, the dysregulation of HGF, TGF-α, and CCL2 in BALF and lung tissue after ischemia could play an important role in the molecular mechanisms underlying stroke-induced lung damage.
Funding: This project received funding from Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII) [PI17/02130,PI21/00939], co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund (FEDER), from the Fundació La Marató de TV3 [201706]. The participating centers take part into RICORS-ICTUS network [RD21/0006/0024, RD21/0006/0007, RD21/0006/0015] from Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII) [PI17/02130, PI21/00939], co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund (FEDER). The funders had no role in designing or executing this study.

Detection of hidden atrial fibrillation in primary care using a long-term band-based ECG registration system: The DESCUUBRE-FA study

Ximénez-Carrillo Á, Zapata-Wainberg G, Sastre R, Álvarez-Pasquín MJ, Javierre AP, Lozano T, Samir E, Perosanz L, González B, Sobrado M, Vivancos J. J Stroke Cerebrovasc Dis. 2022 Sep;31(9):106642. doi: 10.1016/j.jstrokecerebrovasdis.2022.106642. Epub 2022 Jul 18. PMID: 35863263 

Objective: To assess whether the use of a band-based electrocardiographic (ECG) monitoring system improves the diagnostic accuracy of traditional diagnostic methods for the detection of atrial fibrillation (AF). Methods:Multicenter and observational study of primary care patients at risk of AF. To be included, patients had to be aged 70 years, with no known AF, and have at least 1 major criterion (obesity, hyperthyroidism, heart failure) or 2 minor criteria (hypertension, diabetes, female sex, ischemic stroke, transient ischemic attack or systemic embolism, COPD, dyslipidemia, ischemic heart disease, peripheral artery disease). All patients were monitored using the NuuboTM system for a single 2-week period. Results: A total of 600 patients were included (median age 77 years; 70% women; 84.3% hypertension, 27.2% diabetes, 9.2% prior stroke). The global rate of diagnosis of new AF in the overall population was 2.83%. All patients with AF were anticoagulated. In numerical terms, patients with AF (vs no AF) had a higher number of supraventricular extrasystoles and episodes of supraventricular tachycardia, as well as longer P wave duration; however, these differences did not reach statistical significance. Overall, participants were very satisfied with the device, and no relevant limitations in daily activities were observed during the 2-week study period. Conclusions: In an elderly population at risk of AF, a band-based ECG monitoring approach applied for only 2 weeks detected approximately 3% of new cases of AF, leading to a change in antithrombotic therapy. Most participants considered the device easy to use and comfortable.

This research has been financed by the Carlos III Health Institute (PI18/00361 and RICORS-RD21/0006/0009) and co-financed with ERDF Funds and/or charged to the European funds of the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan and by the NextGenerationEU.

Altered methylation pattern in EXOC4 is associated with stroke outcome: an epigenome-wide association study

Cullell N, Soriano-Tárraga C, Gallego-Fábrega C, Cárcel-Márquez J, Muiño E, Llucià-Carol L, Lledós M, Esteller M, de Moura MC, Montaner J et al. Clin Epigenetics. 2022 Sep 30;14(1):124. doi: 10.1186/s13148-022-01340-5.PMID: 36180927
Results: The meta-analysis revealed an epigenome-wide signifcant association in EXOC4 (p value=8.4× 10–08) and in MERTK (p value=1.56× 10–07). Only the methylation in EXOC4 was also associated in the Discovery and in the Replication Cohorts (p value=1.14× 10–06 and p value=1.3× 10–02, respectively). EXOC4 methylation negatively correlated with the long-term outcome (coefcient=−4.91) and showed a tendency towards a decrease in EXOC4 expression (rho=−0.469, p value=0.091). Pathway enrichment from the meta-analysis revealed signifcant associa‑tions related to the endocytosis and deubiquitination processes. Seventy-nine plasma proteins were diferentially expressed in association with EXOC4 methylation. Pathway analysis of these proteins showed an enrichment in natural killer (NK) cell activation. The cell-type methylation analysis in blood also revealed a diferential methylation in NK cells.
Acknowledgements: We thank the International Stroke Genetics Consortium, the Spanish Stroke Genetics Consortium, the International Stroke Genetics Consor‑tium, the Global Alliance for Stroke acute and long-term outcome, RETICS Network INVICTUS (RD16/0019/0002, RD16/0019/0010, RD16/0019/0011, RD16/0019/0021) and the RICORS Stroke network.