Zhiyong Cao,1,2,* Zhenhua Chen,3,* Jiawei Yang,2 Xiaozhu Shen,1 Chen Chen,1 Xiangyang Zhu,2 Qi Fang1 

1Department of Neurology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University, Suzhou, Jiangsu Province, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Neurology, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Nantong University, Nantong, Jiangsu Province, People’s Republic of China; 3Department of Neurosurgery, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Nantong University, Nantong, Jiangsu Province, People’s Republic of China

*These authors contributed equally to this work

Correspondence: Qi Fang, Department of Neurology, First Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University, Suzhou, Jiangsu Province, 215004, People’s Republic of China, Tel +86 13606213892, Email fangqi_008@126.com

Objective: Elevated serum pentraxin-3 levels are generally considered a risk factor for atherosclerosis. However, there is limited data on the relationship between pentraxin-3 and cerebral infarction (CI) accompanied by intracranial atherosclerotic stenosis (ICAS). This study aims to investigate the association between pentraxin-3 (PTX-3) and short-term recurrence in cerebral infarction caused by ICAS patients within one year.
Methods: A prospective observational study was conducted. Cerebral infarction accompanied by intracranial atherosclerotic stenosis (CI-ICAS) patients were selected from January 2020 to December 2023. Recurrent ischemic stroke (RIS) is defined as a new neurological deficit that appears after a period of clinical stabilization, lasting more than 24 hours, with an attributable new ischemic lesion that can be confirmed by CT or MRI. Serum pentraxin-3 levels were determined on admission. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to investigate the relationship between serum pentraxin-3 and RIS.
Results: Among 398 patients enrolled, 112 cases (28.1%) had recurrence within one year. The elevation of serum PTX-3 level in patients accompanied with ICAS was independently correlated with recurrent stroke. Therefore, it is worth considering the possibility of intervening in higher PTX-3 levels. Serum pentraxin-3 was significantly higher in patients with RIS (15.16 vs 10.21 μmol/L, P< 0.001). Correlation analysis showed that PTX-3 was correlated with age, LDL, Hs-CRP, Baseline NIHSS score, and Hcy (P < 0.001). Univariate logistic regression analysis showed that pentraxin-3 remained an independent predictor of recurrent ischemic stroke after adjusting for major confounding factors (OR = 1.21, 95% CI: 1.06– 1.39, P = 0.007).
Conclusion: The elevation of serum pentraxin-3 level in patients with ischemic stroke was independently correlated with the recurrence of stroke within one year. Therefore, intervention in serum pentraxin-3 levels may be worth considering.

Keywords: recurrent ischemic stroke, cerebral infarction, pentraxin-3