title: The association between OPG rs3102735 gene polymorphism, microembolic signal and stroke severity in acute ischemic stroke patients.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Osteoprotegerin (OPG) is a member of the tumor necrosis factor receptor superfamily and is involved in the progress of atherosclerosis. We chose a gene polymorphism locus, OPG rs3102735, to explore how OPG gene polymorphisms relate to the occurrence of ischemic stroke and microembolic signals and to evaluate their relationship with the severity of neurologic deficits at admission and the degree of vascular stenosis.
  
  
  METHODS
  We studied 251 patients diagnosed with large artery atherosclerosis (LAA) stroke and 121 controls. The LAA stroke patients were divided into clinical subgroups according to the presence of microembolic signals, severity of neurologic deficits at admission, and the degree of vascular stenosis. The OPG rs3102735 gene polymorphism was examined by polymerase chain reaction and restriction fragment length polymorphism. The microembolic signals (MES) were monitored by transcranial Doppler (TCD) for 60min within 72h of stroke onset. The severity of neurologic deficits at admission was evaluated by the National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS).
  
  
  RESULTS
  The CC+CT genotypes and allele C frequencies of the rs3102735 gene polymorphism were significantly higher in the LAA group than in the control group (39% vs. 25.6%, P=0.026; 21.7% vs.13.2%, P=0.006), higher in MES-positive compared to MES-negative patients (58.7% vs. 32.4%, P<0.01; 34.1% vs.17.6%, P<0.01), and higher in patients with an NIHSS Score (≥6) than in those with an NIHSS Score (<6) (46.9% vs.33.3%, P=0.031; 43.4% vs.18.3%, P=0.04). However, the genotypes and allele frequencies of SNPs in rs3102735 did not show significant differences in the degree of vascular stenosis (P>0.05).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our findings suggest that the OPG rs3102735 gene polymorphism might be related to the occurrence of LAA ischemic stroke, microembolic signals and stroke severity and not the degree of vascular stenosis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, the Affiliated Hospital of Qingdao University, Qingdao 266000, China.
authors.forename: Hongqin
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Qingdao University, Qingdao 266000, China.
authors.forename: Yanyan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Cao
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, the Affiliated Hospital of Qingdao University, Qingdao 266000, China.
authors.forename: Honghua
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, the Affiliated Hospital of Qingdao University, Qingdao 266000, China.
authors.forename: Wanqun
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, the Affiliated Hospital of Qingdao University, Qingdao 266000, China.
authors.forename: Ximei
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, the Affiliated Hospital of Qingdao University, Qingdao 266000, China. Electronic address: panxudongyy@126.com.
authors.forename: Xudong
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Pan
mesh_terms: D000208:Acute Disease; D000368:Aged; D002545:Brain Ischemia / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology; D016893:Carotid Stenosis / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D053244:Osteoprotegerin / Q000235:genetics*; D020641:Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide; D020521:Stroke / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology
chemical_list: D053244:Osteoprotegerin; C506030:TNFRSF11B protein, human
keywords: Genetic polymorphisms; Ischemic stroke; Microembolic signals; NHISS; Osteoprotegerin; Vascular stenosis