Correlations of serum adipocyte fatty acid-binding protein and adiponectin with acute ischemic stroke： a case-control study

Abstract

Objective To investigate the correlations of serum adipocyte fatty acid-binding protein （A- FABP）, adiponectin （APN） and A-FABP/APN ratio with acute ischemic stroke （AIS） and its subtypes. Methods The consecutive patients with AIS （AIS group） of having complete data admitted within 24 hours of onset were enrolled, and at the same time, the healthy subjects of age, sex and body mass index matched with the AIS group were selected as a control group. The demographic characteristics and general clinical data of the AIS group and control group were collected. The serum A-FABP and APN levels were detected by enzymelinked immtmosorbent assay. The patients in the AIS group were further divided into large artery atherosclerosis （LAA）, small artery occlusion, （SAO）, cardioembolism （CE）, and stroke of other determined etiology （SOE） according to the TOAST classification criteria. Multivariable logistic regression analysis was used to investigate the relationship between all factors and AIS and its subtypes. Spearman correlation analysis was used to analyze the correlations of the A-FABP and APN levels and the NIHSS scores. Results The serum A-FABP level （P =0. 017） and A-FABP/APN ratio （P =0. 002） in the AIS group were significantly higher than those in the control group, and the serum APN level was significantly lower than that in the control group （P =0. 011）. Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that the increased serum A-FABP level （odds ratio [ OR] 1.48, 95% confidence interval [ CI] 1.07 - 1.93; P = 0. 009） and the A-FABP/APN ratio （OR 1.59, 95% CI 1. 10 -2. 34; P = 0. 002） as well as the decreased APN level （OR 0. 36, 95 % CI 0. 14 -0. 65; P = 0. 011 ） were independently associated with AIS. And the A-FABP/APN ratio was better than the correlation of both separately. The serum A-FABP level and A-FABP/APN ratio in the LAA, SAO and CE groups were significantly higher than those in other subtype groups （all P 〈0. 05）, and the APN level was significantly lower than that in other subtype groups （P 〈0. 05）. Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that the increased serum A-FABP level and A-FABP/APN ratio as well as the decreased APN level were independently associated with LAA, SAO and CE, and the A-FABP/APN ratio was better than the correlation of both separately. The baseline NIHSS score was positively correlated with the serum A-FABP level （r = 0. 236, P = 0. 019）, it was negatively correlated with the serum APN level （r = 0. 307, P = 0. 002）, and the correlation of the serum A- FABP/APN ratio was higher than that of A-FABP or APN （r =0. 326, P =0. 001）. Conclusions The increased serum A-FABP level and the decreased APN level may serve as the new risk factors for AIS, especially LAA, SAO and CE subtypes, and they can reflect the severity of AIS. Key words: Fatty Acid-Binding Proteins; Adipocytes; Adiponectin; Stroke; Brain Ischemia