Oxidative Stress Marker Identified in Stroke Victims

Jason D. Morrow, M.D.
Vanderbilt University School of Medicine
NIEHS Grant P01ES013125

New research supported in part by NIEHS has revealed a possible biomarker that may be useful in determining the effectiveness of antioxidant therapies used to treat stroke victims.  Laboratory studies show that oxidative stress is a major contributing factor to brain injuries resulting from the restriction of blood flow resulting from stroke.  To date, however, a useful biomarker has not been available.

The group hypothesized that F2-isoprostanes, which are products of neuronal cell arachidonic acid peroxidation during stroke, might be good candidates for a marker.  They performed a case control study of 52 stroke patients and 27 controls.  Twenty-five of the stroke patients had received the clot busting drug tissue plasminogen activator (tPA).  The researchers measured antioxidant dietary intake by a questionnaire. 

The study showed that F2-isoprostanes were indeed elevated in the plasma of stroke victims within the first 8 hours of the appearance of symptoms but not at 24 hours or later time points.  They also found a correlation between F2-isoprostanes and matrix metalloproteinase 9 (MMP9) in tPA-treated stroke patients.  This finding confirms earlier experimental findings that oxidative stress may be an early stimulus for MMP activation and blood-brain barrier injury.  The authors caution that these findings are preliminary and need to be confirmed in large studies, but they do offer a new research opportunity in the treatment of stroke.

Citation: Kelly PJ, Morrow JD, Ning M, Koroshetz W, Lo EH, Terry E, Milne GL, Hubbard J, Lee H, Stevenson E, Lederer M, Furie KL. Oxidative stress and matrix metalloproteinase-9 in acute ischemic stroke: the Biomarker Evaluation for Antioxidant Therapies in Stroke (BEAT-Stroke) study. Stroke. 2008 Jan;39(1):100-4.