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. 2016 May 6;11(5):e0154945.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0154945. eCollection 2016.

High CD3+ Cells in Intracranial Thrombi Represent a Biomarker of Atherothrombotic Stroke

Cyril Dargazanli  1 , Valérie Rigau  2 , Omer Eker  1 , Carlos Riquelme Bareiro  1 , Paolo Machi  1 , Grégory Gascou  1 , Caroline Arquizan  3 , Xavier Ayrignac  3 , Isabelle Mourand  3 , Astrid Corlobé  3 , Kyriakos Lobotesis  4 , Nicolas Molinari  5 , Valérie Costes  2 , Alain Bonafé  1 , Vincent Costalat  1
Affiliations

High CD3+ Cells in Intracranial Thrombi Represent a Biomarker of Atherothrombotic Stroke

Cyril Dargazanli et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

Background and purpose: Approximately 30% of strokes are cryptogenic despite an exhaustive in-hospital work-up. Analysis of clot composition following endovascular treatment could provide insight into stroke etiology. T-cells already have been shown to be a major component of vulnerable atherosclerotic carotid lesions. We therefore hypothesize that T-cell content in intracranial thrombi may also be a biomarker of atherothrombotic origin.

Materials and methods: We histopathologically investigated 54 consecutive thrombi retrieved after mechanical thrombectomy in acute stroke patients. First, thrombi were classified as fibrin-dominant, erythrocyte-dominant or mixed pattern. We then performed quantitative analysis of CD3+ cells on immunohistochemically-stained thrombi and compared T-cell content between "atherothrombotic", "cardioembolism" and "other causes" stroke subtypes.

Results: Fourteen (26%) thrombi were defined as fibrin-dominant, 15 (28%) as erythrocyte-dominant, 25 (46%) as mixed. The stroke cause was defined as "atherothrombotic" in 10 (18.5%), "cardioembolism" in 25 (46.3%), and "other causes" in 19 (35.2%). Number of T-cells was significantly higher in thrombi from the "atherothrombotic" group (53.60 ± 28.78) than in the other causes (21.77 ± 18.31; p<0.0005) or the "cardioembolism" group (20.08 ± 15.66; p<0.0003).

Conclusions: The CD3+ T-cell count in intracranial thrombi was significantly higher in "atherothrombotic" origin strokes compared to all other causes. Thrombi with high content of CD3+ cells are more likely to originate from an atherosclerotic plaque.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Fig 1
Fig 1. Boxplot showing distribution of CD3+ cells content in intracranial thrombi by stroke subtypes.
Fig 2
Fig 2. “Cardioembolic” thrombus.
CD3+ cells (brown) corresponding to T cells in a “cardioembolic” thrombus.
Fig 3
Fig 3. “Atherosclerotic” thrombus.
CD3+ cells (brown) corresponding to T cells in an “atherosclerotic” thrombus.
Fig 4
Fig 4. Hematoxylin and eosin-stained section of a fibrin-dominant thrombus (left) and of an erythrocyte-dominant thrombus (right).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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