%0 Journal Article
%@ 1471-2377
%A Sandelius, A
%A Cullen, NC
%A Kallen, A
%A Rosengren, L
%A Jensen, C
%A Kostanjevecki, V
%A Vandijck, M
%A Zetterberg, H
%A Blennow, K
%D 2018
%F discovery:10065062
%I BMC
%J BMC Neurology
%K GAP-43, Stroke, Neurodegeneration, Cerebrospinal fluid, Biomarkers
%T Transient increase in CSF GAP-43 concentration after ischemic stroke
%U https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10065062/
%V 18
%X Background: Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) biomarkers reflect ongoing processes in the brain. Growth-associated  protein 43 (GAP-43) is highly upregulated in brain tissue shortly after experimental ischemia suggesting the CSF  GAP-43 concentration may be altered in ischemic brain disorders. CSF GAP-43 concentration is elevated in  Alzheimer’s disease patients; however, patients suffering from stroke have not been studied previously.  Methods: The concentration of GAP-43 was measured in longitudinal CSF samples from 28 stroke patients  prospectively collected on days 0–1, 2–4, 7–9, 3 weeks, and 3–5 months after ischemia and cross-sectionally in 19  controls. The stroke patients were clinically evaluated using a stroke severity score system. The extent of the brain  lesion, including injury size and degrees of white matter lesions and atrophy were evaluated by CT and magnetic  resonance imaging.  Results: Increased GAP-43 concentration was detected from day 7–9 to 3 weeks after stroke, compared to day 1–4  and to levels in the control group (P = 0.02 and P = 0.007). At 3–5 months after stroke GAP-43 returned to admission  levels. The initial increase in GAP-43 during the nine first days was associated to stroke severity, the degree of white  matter lesions and atrophy and correlated positively with infarct size (rs = 0.65, P = 0.001).  Conclusions: The transient increase of CSF GAP-43 is important to take into account when used as a biomarker for  other neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease. Furthermore, GAP-43 may be a marker of neuronal  responses after stroke and additional studies confirming the potential of CSF GAP-43 to reflect severity and  outcome of stroke in larger cohorts are warranted.
%Z Copyright © The Author(s). 2018 Open Access This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0  International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and  reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to  the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver  (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.