Abstract:

Objective To investigate the roles of serum miR-181b and miR-144 expressions in early neurological deterioration （END） in acute ischemic stroke （AIS） patients. Methods A total of 96 AIS patients （AIS group） and 95 healthy subjects （healthy control group） were enrolled from Jiulongpo District Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital and Chongqing Fifth People's Hospital from May 2020 to May 2022. AIS patients were classified into END group and non-END group. The levels of miR-181b and miR-144 were determined，and the clinical data and laboratory routine determination results of all the patients were collected. Multivariate Logistic regression analysis was used to evaluate the factors affecting the occurrence of END in AIS patients. Receiver operating characteristic （ROC） curve was used to evaluate the efficacy of each index in diagnosing the END of AIS patients. Results The relative expression levels of miR-181b and miR-144 in AIS group were lower than those in healthy control group （P<0.001）. White blood cell （WBC） count，the absolute value of neutrophils （NEUT#），homocysteine （Hcy） level and the National Institute of Health Stroke Scale （NIHSS）baseline score in END group were higher than those in non-END group （P<0.001）. Platelet （PLT） count and relative expression levels of miR-181b and miR-144 were lower than those in non-END group（P<0.05）. There was no statistical significance in the other indexes between the 2 groups （P>0.05）. The increase of WBC count，NEUT# and Hcy and the decrease of miR-181b，miR-144 and PLT count were the risk factors for END in AIS patients（P<0.05）. The areas under curves（AUC）of serum miR-181b，miR-144 and PLT count single and combined determinations in AIS patients were 0.864，0.859，0.870 and 0.968，respectively. Conclusions In AIS patients with END，serum miR-181b and miR-144 are both low in expression，and they have good diagnostic efficacy for END.

Key words: MicroRNA-181b, MicroRNA-144, Acute ischemic stroke, Early neurological deterioration