title: Correlation of adrenomedullin gene expression in peripheral blood leukocytes with severity of ischemic stroke.
abstract: Human adrenomedullin (ADM), a 52-amino acid peptide, belongs to the calcitonin/calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP)/amylin peptide family. ADM acts as a multifunctional regulatory peptide and is upregulated in response to hypoxia. Previous microarray studies have found increased ADM gene (ADM) expression in peripheral blood cells of patients with stroke, however, it is unknown if an increased ADM level is correlated with severity of human ischemic stroke. This study investigated ADM expression in peripheral blood leukocytes (PBL) of healthy controls and subjects at day 1, week 1 and week 3 postacute ischemic stroke using rtPCR methodology. We found that ADM expression was significantly upregulated on the first day of stroke compared to the healthy subjects and the disease controls; the levels remained elevated for up to week 3. Further, ADM expression at day 1 was correlated with stroke severity measured by the National Institute of Healthy Stroke Scale (NIHSS), the modified Barthel Index (mBI) and the modified Rankin Scale (mRS). This could indicate that ADM expression level is related to the severity of tissue damage. We suggest that increased ADM expression in PBL after acute ischemic stroke is most likely to indicate that these cells have been subjected to hypoxia and that the magnitude of expression is likely to be related to the volume of hypoxic tissue. Hypoxia can affect lymphocytes function and could affect the immune response to stroke. The correlation of ADM expression level with the measures of stroke severity implicates ADM--a potential blood bio-marker in studies of ischemic stroke.
authors: 1The University of Queensland , UQ Centre for Clinical Research.
authors: Jia
authors: J
authors: Liu
authors: Jun
authors: J
authors: Yan
authors: Judith M
authors: JM
authors: Greer
authors: Stephen J
authors: SJ
authors: Read
authors: Robert D
authors: RD
authors: Henderson
authors: Stephen E
authors: SE
authors: Rose
authors: Alan
authors: A
authors: Coulthard
authors: Pamela A
authors: PA
authors: McCombe
mesh_terms: D053607:Adrenomedullin / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000235:genetics*; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood; D002545:Brain Ischemia / Q000097:blood / Q000150:complications / Q000235:genetics*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007962:Leukocytes / Q000378:metabolism*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D020521:Stroke / Q000097:blood / Q000150:complications / Q000235:genetics*; D015854:Up-Regulation / Q000235:genetics*; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D053607:Adrenomedullin