Serum CXCL12 levels are associated with stroke severity and lesion volumes in stroke patients

OBJECTIVE: Previous studies had shown that CXC chemokine ligand-12 (CXCL12) might play a significant role in stroke. The aim of this study was to test the serum baseline CXCL12 levels in Chinese patients with acute ischemic stroke (AIS). METHODS: All consecutive patients with first-ever AIS from January 2013 to June 2014 were recruited to participate in the study. CXCL12 and National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale were measured at the time of admission. Logistic regression analysis was used to evaluate the risk of stroke according to serum CXCL12 levels. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was used to evaluate the accuracy of serum CXCL12 in diagnosing stroke. RESULTS: From 306 screened patients, a total of 239 patients with first-ever AIS were included in this study. The results indicated that the serum CXCL12 levels were significantly higher in AIS patients as compared to normal controls (P < 0.0001). Serum CXCL12 were positively correlated with infarct volume(r = 0.307, P < 0.0001) and stroke severity(r = 0.288, P < 0.0001). After adjusting for all other possible covariates, CXCL12 was a stroke predictor with an adjusted OR of 2.047 [95% confidence interval (CI), 1.781-2.352; P < 0.0001]. Based on the ROC curve, the optimal cutoff value of serum CXCL12 levels as an indicator for auxiliary diagnosis of AIS was projected to be 3.4 ng/ml, which yielded a sensitivity of 87.9% and a specificity of 72.0%, with the area under the curve at 0.902 (95% CI, 0.875-0.929). CONCLUSION: Our study demonstrated that serum CXCL12 levels increased significantly following AIS, and these changes in serum CXCL12 were positively correlated with infarct volume and stroke severity in Chinese sample.