Angiogenesis Biomarkers in Ischemic Stroke Patients.

Stroke is a global health issue, and ischemic stroke is among the most common type of strokes affecting a significant number of populations worldwide. According to WHO, around 16.9 million individuals get stroke either annually or biannually, most of which (80%) are due to ischemia. In the third world countries, the death toll stands at 70% hence attributing to a high death rate that causes an alarm. The approximation of death from stroke will rise at an average of 12 million by 2030, while over 200 million individuals will have disabilities initiated by the stroke. During the progress of ischemic stroke, various immune cells are involved in countering its effect, including angiogenic molecules, cytokines, and chemokines. These molecules can serve as potential biomarkers in monitoring the progress or in the diagnosis of ischemic stroke. The main aim of this project was to investigate the use of angiogenic molecules as biomarkers in ischemic stroke patients, where five molecules were tested. Plasma from selected ischemic stroke candidates from KAUH was obtained from peripheral blood and analyzed thoroughly using Luminex technology; the results were further computed using Prism 7 software. The results showed variation in the five biomarkers between patients and control, where we found there was a significant increase in serum levels of angiopoietin, endoglin, endothelin-1, and VEGF-A angiogenic biomarkers compared to the controls, whereas the G-CSG was less significant. The correlations coefficient of measured angiogenic biomarkers among controls showed there were no significant correlations. In patients, a strong relationship between angiopoietin, endoglin, endothelin-1, and VEGF-A angiogenic biomarkers was found.