title: Increase of Serum CXCL16 Level Correlates Well to Microembolic Signals in Acute Stroke Patients with Carotid Artery Stenosis.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The majority of strokes are combined with the instability of atherosclerotic plaques. Microembolic signals (MES) have been considered as evidence of plaque destabilization. We found that increased CXCL16 correlated to atherosclerotic ischemic stroke. Thus, we explored whether CXCL16 correlates to MES.
  
  
  METHODS
  The study recruited 104 controls and 118 patients with acute ischemic stroke that has an ipsilateral carotid artery stenosis of >50%. The ipsilateral middle cerebral artery of patients was insonated for 60min using Doppler device within 72h of their clinical presentation.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We found that CXCL16 was significantly increased in the stroke patients. Furthermore, there was a significant difference in CXCL16 between the MES-positive and MES-negative patients. Using CXCL16 to distinguish the controls and stroke patients, the area under the ROC curve (AUC) was 0.722; the cut-off value was 2.015ng/ml. The sensitivity and specificity were 70.5% and 67.9%, respectively. Furthermore, if we used CXCL16 to distinguish the MES-positive and MES-negative patients, the AUC was 0.736; the cut-off value was 2.115ng/ml. The sensitivity and specificity were 88.5% and 56.5%, respectively.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Higher levels CXCL16 may be a biomarker for predicting stroke incidence and might contribute to plaque destabilization.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, the Affiliated Hospital of Qingdao University, Qingdao, Shandong, Province, 266100, PR China.
authors.forename: Aijun
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, the Affiliated Hospital of Qingdao University, Qingdao, Shandong, Province, 266100, PR China.
authors.forename: Shaonan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, the Affiliated Hospital of Qingdao University, Qingdao, Shandong, Province, 266100, PR China.
authors.forename: Yuan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Ultrasonic Diagnosis, the Affiliated Hospital of Qingdao University, Qingdao, Shandong, Province, 266100, PR China.
authors.forename: Xia
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, the Affiliated Hospital of Qingdao University, Qingdao, Shandong, Province, 266100, PR China. Electronic address: yangsn261504@126.com.
authors.forename: Xudong
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Pan
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D019540:Area Under Curve; D016893:Carotid Stenosis; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D000075743:Chemokine CXCL16; D019743:Chemokines, CXC / Q000097:blood*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D020766:Intracranial Embolism / Q000378:metabolism; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D020768:Middle Cerebral Artery / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D058226:Plaque, Atherosclerotic / Q000378:metabolism; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D051116:Receptors, Scavenger / Q000097:blood*; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D020521:Stroke / Q000097:blood* / Q000175:diagnosis
chemical_list: C423727:CXCL16 protein, human; D000075743:Chemokine CXCL16; D019743:Chemokines, CXC; D051116:Receptors, Scavenger
keywords: CXCL16; atherosclerosis; carotid artery stenosis; ischemic stroke; microembolic signals; plaque destabilization