Fecal metabolites as early-phase biomarkers and prediction panel for ischemic stroke

There is growing research on the relationship between gut bacteria and various forms of strokes. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between fecal metabolites and ischemic stroke, providing a new perspective on predicting the latter.

Stool samples were taken from 60 patients with ischemic stroke and 60 healthy individuals, and non-targeted metabolomic analysis was used. The generalized boosted linear model was utilized for co-occurrence analysis to ascertain the noteworthy variation in fecal metabolites. The important differential metabolites were identified by the random forest algorithm, a prediction panel was developed to distinguish ischemic stroke patients from healthy individuals. Specifically, six differential metabolites (Ganoderic acid theta, Fructose-lysine, Pentaethylene glycol, 2-Chlorooctadecanoic acid, PA(2:0/PGF1alpha), and 4-[(E)-5,6-Dihydro-2,3'-bipyridin-3(4H)-ylidenemethyl]-3-methoxyphenol) were identified as potential independent stroke-associated metabolites. A prediction panel consisting of these six metabolites could yield an area under the curve of 0.989 in training set and 0.973 in testing set. There was a substantial correlation between all six independent stroke-associated metabolites and the severity of ischemic stroke, but it was not affected by depression or anxiety.

These six differential metabolites were independent stroke-associated metabolites, and the panel consisting of these metabolites could serve as a potential prediction panel for ischemic stroke. However, future external validation in multi-ethnic cohorts is necessary to confirm broader generalizability.