Abstract
Background. Despite considerable interest in the search for a spinal cord injury (SCI) therapy, there is a critical need to develop a panel of diagnostic biomarkers to determine injury severity. In this regard, there is a requirement for continuing research into the fundamental processes of neuroinflammatory and autoimmune reactions in SCI, identifying changes in the expression of cytokines. Methods. In this pilot study, an extended multiplex analysis of the cytokine profiles in the serum of patients at 2 weeks post-SCI (n = 28) was carried out, together with an additional assessment of neuron-specific enolase (NSE) and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) levels by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. A total of 16 uninjured subjects were enrolled as controls. Results. The data obtained showed a large elevation of IFNγ (>52 fold), CCL27 (>13 fold), and CCL26 (>8 fold) 2 weeks after SCI. The levels of cytokines CXCL5, CCL11, CXCL11, IL10, TNFα, and MIF were different between patients with baseline American Spinal Injury Association Impairment Scale (AIS) grades of A or B, whilst IL2 (>2 fold) and MIP-3a (>6 fold) were significantly expressed in the cervical and thoracic regions. There was a trend towards increasing levels of NSE. However, the difference in NSE was lost when the patient set was segregated based on AIS group. Conclusions. Our pilot research demonstrates that serum concentrations of cytokines can be used as an affordable and rapid detection tool to accurately stratify SCI severity in patients.
Highlights
IntroductionThe acute period of spinal cord injury (SCI) is most often considered to be within 3 days from the moment of injury
All injured patients had stable data of Association Impairment Scale (AIS) grade at weeks 1 to 3 post-injury, and no AIS improvement was observed in the subacute period of spinal cord injury (SCI)
In this study, using multiplex analysis of blood serum collected from SCI patients at 2 weeks post-injury (n = 28), we determined the levels of 40 cytokines and 2 additional proteins, neuron-specific enolase (NSE) and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), compared to a cohort of uninjured subjects (n = 16)
Summary
The acute period of SCI is most often considered to be within 3 days from the moment of injury This period captures the phase of primary damage, characterized by the development of pathological changes as a result of the direct impact on the tissue of a damaging factor (e.g., mechanical injury), and is quickly replaced by secondary damage [4,5]. It is in this subsequent subacute period ( referred to as the early or intermediate period) that the classical picture of secondary damage unfolds. A total of 16 uninjured subjects were enrolled as controls
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