Neopterin levels in patients with cerebrovascular disease

The recovery period in ischemic cerebrovascular disease is sometimes long and complicated. It is thought that a systemic inflammatory response plays an important role in this process. Therefore, promising studies have reported that neopterin and other cytokines serve as indicators of the inflammatory response. The present study investigated the effects of cerebrovascular diseases on plasma neopterin.

We studied 68 consecutive patients under 65 years of age with cerebrovascular disease; the mean age was 52.08±5.74 years (yrs) (ranging from 39 yrs to 64 yrs; 28 female and 40 male). We also studied 29 randomly selected age-matched healthy subjects (control); the mean age was 49.76±13.11 years (yrs) (ranging from 41 yrs to 62 yrs; 12 female and 17 male). Blood samples for assessing plasma levels of neopterin were usually taken within seven days after admission to the hospital and stored at -20°C until analysis. Serum neopterin levels in all the subjects were measured by Enzyme Immunoassay (EÝA) using the BRAHMS method (Neopterin; Diagnostic GmbH, 16761 Berlin, Germany). Differences between the groups' means were analyzed with the Mann-Whitney U test.

The mean values of neopterin levels in patients (mean neopterin levels in patients, 18.51 ± 11.56 nmol/L; vs. control, 12.26 ± 3.87 nmol/L [p=.001]) were significantly different when compared with the controls.

It has been suggested that the mortality and morbidity associated with cerebrovascular disease could be prevented by a reduction in the inflammatory response. We suggest that plasma neopterin levels were significantly increased. So, the levels of plasma neopterin may be useful monitoring of treatment and course of diseases.