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Updated: Aug 5, 2026
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A Methodological Approach to Non-invasive Assessments of Vascular Function and Morphology
Published on: February 7, 2015
Association Between Inflammatory Biomarkers And Carotid Ultrasound Parameters In The Northern Manhattan Stroke Study
Farid Khasiyev1, Minghua Liu2, Mady Hornig3
1Department of Neurology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA.
Translational Stroke Research
|July 27, 2026
Summary
Inflammation
Area of Science:
- Cardiovascular Disease and Immunology
- Vascular Biology and Atherosclerosis Research
- Biomarker Discovery in Subclinical Disease
Background:
- Inflammation plays a key role in atherosclerosis and vascular remodeling.
- Immune pathways linked to carotid ultrasound phenotypes like carotid intima-media thickness (cIMT), maximal plaque thickness (MPT), and arterial stiffness are not fully understood.
- Identifying these pathways is crucial for understanding subclinical carotid disease.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate associations between circulating immune biomarkers and carotid ultrasound measures in a stroke-free, multi-ethnic cohort.
- To identify distinct immune biomarker profiles related to cIMT, MPT, and arterial stiffness using machine learning.
- To explore the role of inflammatory and immunometabolic pathways in subclinical carotid disease.
Main Methods:
- Analysis of data from 1,134 stroke-free participants in the Northern Manhattan Study (NOMAS).
- High-resolution B-mode carotid ultrasound to measure cIMT and MPT; arterial stiffness assessed via diameter, strain, and β-stiffness.
- Quantification of 60 plasma immune biomarkers using multiplex immunoassay, with biomarker selection via LASSO, Random Forest, and XGBoost.
Main Results:
- Machine learning identified partially distinct immune biomarker profiles for cIMT, MPT, and arterial stiffness.
- Greater cIMT associated with higher IL-4 and leptin, and lower IL-10, VCAM-1, and SerpinE1.
- Greater arterial stiffness associated with higher SCF; no significant associations found for MPT biomarkers at p<0.05.
Conclusions:
- Distinct and overlapping immune biomarker profiles are associated with subclinical carotid atherosclerosis and arterial stiffness.
- Only a subset of selected biomarkers showed independent associations, suggesting a hypothesis-generating role for these pathways.
- Further validation in longitudinal studies is required to confirm findings in subclinical carotid disease and vascular aging.
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