High CD3+ Cells in Intracranial Thrombi Represent a Biomarker of Atherothrombotic Stroke

• Published in: PloS one Vol. 11; no. 5; p. e0154945
• Main Authors: Dargazanli, Cyril, Rigau, Valérie, Eker, Omer, Riquelme Bareiro, Carlos, Machi, Paolo, Gascou, Grégory, Arquizan, Caroline, Ayrignac, Xavier, Mourand, Isabelle, Corlobé, Astrid, Lobotesis, Kyriakos, Molinari, Nicolas, Costes, Valérie, Bonafé, Alain, Costalat, Vincent
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Public Library of Science 06.05.2016; Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subjects: Analysis; Antigens; Arteriosclerosis; Atherosclerosis; Biological markers; Biology and Life Sciences; Biomarkers; Blood clots; Blood platelets; Cardiovascular system; Carotid arteries; CD3 antigen; CD3 Complex - analysis; Diagnosis; Erythrocytes; Etiology; Fibrin; Gene expression; Health aspects; Hospitals; Humans; Intracranial Thrombosis - complications; Intracranial Thrombosis - surgery; Lesions; Life Sciences; Lymphocytes T; Medicine and Health Sciences; Neurology; Neutrophils; Quantitative analysis; Santé publique et épidémiologie; Stroke; Stroke - complications; Stroke - diagnosis; Stroke - immunology; T-Lymphocytes - immunology; Thrombectomy; Thromboembolism; Thrombosis; United States; France
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0154945

Approximately 30% of strokes are cryptogenic despite an exhaustive in-hospital work-up. Analysis of clot composition following endovascular treatment could provide insight into stroke etiology. T-cells already have been shown to be a major component of vulnerable atherosclerotic carotid lesions. We therefore hypothesize that T-cell content in intracranial thrombi may also be a biomarker of atherothrombotic origin. We histopathologically investigated 54 consecutive thrombi retrieved after mechanical thrombectomy in acute stroke patients. First, thrombi were classified as fibrin-dominant, erythrocyte-dominant or mixed pattern. We then performed quantitative analysis of CD3+ cells on immunohistochemically-stained thrombi and compared T-cell content between "atherothrombotic", "cardioembolism" and "other causes" stroke subtypes. Fourteen (26%) thrombi were defined as fibrin-dominant, 15 (28%) as erythrocyte-dominant, 25 (46%) as mixed. The stroke cause was defined as "atherothrombotic" in 10 (18.5%), "cardioembolism" in 25 (46.3%), and "other causes" in 19 (35.2%). Number of T-cells was significantly higher in thrombi from the "atherothrombotic" group (53.60 ± 28.78) than in the other causes (21.77 ± 18.31; p<0.0005) or the "cardioembolism" group (20.08 ± 15.66; p<0.0003). The CD3+ T-cell count in intracranial thrombi was significantly higher in "atherothrombotic" origin strokes compared to all other causes. Thrombi with high content of CD3+ cells are more likely to originate from an atherosclerotic plaque.