Pathogenesis and Biomarkers of Cancer-Related Ischemic Stroke

To investigate the pathogenesis of cancer-related ischemic stroke (CRIS) and to search for reliable biomarkers of CRIS.

Patients with CRIS, only-cancer and only-ischemic stroke who were hospitalized in the First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical University from May 2022 to January 2024 were recruited, and laboratory and clinical data of the three groups were collected. Peripheral venous blood was collected and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was used to detect markers of coagulation (D-dimer) and endothelial integrity (intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1)).

The study included 16 patients with CRIS, as well as 16 patients with only-cancer and 16 patients with only-ischemic stroke. Among patients with CRIS, the most common cancer was lung cancer, and the most common pathological type was adenocarcinoma. It was found that compared with patients with only-cancer and only-ischemic stroke, the hemoglobin and lymphocyte percentage in patients with CRIS were decreased (P<0.05), while the neutrophil percentage and neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio (NLR) were increased (P<0.05). Compared with only-ischemic stroke group, the lymphocyte absolute value in patients with CRIS was decreased (P<0.05), and platelet to lymphocyte ratio (PLR), globulin, prothrombin time (PT), international normalized ratio (INR) and ICAM-1 were increased (P<0.05). D-dimer level was higher in patients with CRIS than in only-cancer group (P<0.05).

In the present study, the increased NLR, PLR, ICAM-1 and D-dimer were expected to be biomarkers of CRIS, indicating that hypercoagulability mediated by cancer inflammation and endothelial damage may be the pathogenesis of CRIS. The novel findings in the present study will facilitate clinicians to identify the patients at high risk of CRIS. Because of the small sample size, the findings need to be validated by prospective large-sample studies in the future.