Frontiers in Immunology (May 2024)

Elevated serum levels of anti-collagen type I antibodies in patients with spontaneous cervical artery dissection and ischemic stroke: a prospective multicenter study

  • Silke Zimmermann,
  • Markus Weißenfels,
  • Norma Krümmer,
  • Wolfgang Härtig,
  • Gesa Weise,
  • Daniela Branzan,
  • Dominik Michalski,
  • Johann Otto Pelz

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3389/fimmu.2024.1348430
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 15

Abstract

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IntroductionSpontaneous cervical artery dissection (sCAD) is a rare vasculopathy whose trigger is still unknown. We hypothesized that autoimmunity against components of the vascular wall might play a critical role in sCAD and examined anti-collagen type I antibodies in patients with sCAD, acute ischemic stroke, patients with thromboendarterectomy, and controls.MethodsFifty-seven patients with sCAD (age 45.7 ± 10.2 years, female 18 (31.6%)) were prospectively enrolled in four German stroke centers. Blood samples were collected at baseline, at day 10 ± 3, and after 6 ± 1 months. Patients with ischemic stroke not related to CAD (n=54, age 56.7 ± 13.7 years, female 15 (27.8%)), healthy probands (n=80, age 57.4 ± 12.9 years, female 56 (70%)), and patients undergoing thromboendarterectomy of the carotid artery (n=9, age 70.7 ± 9.3 years, female 2 (22.2%)) served as controls. Anti-collagen type I antibodies were determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISAs).ResultsPatients with acute sCAD had higher serum levels of anti-collagen type I antibodies (33.9 ± 24.6 µg/ml) than probands (18.5 ± 11.0 µg/ml; p <0.001) but lower levels than patients with ischemic stroke not related to sCAD (47.8 ± 28.4 µg/ml; p=0.003). In patients with sCAD, serum levels of anti-collagen type I antibodies were similar in the acute, subacute, and chronic phase. Levels of anti-collagen type I antibodies significantly correlated with circulating collagen type I (rho=0.207, p=0.003).ConclusionAnti-collagen type I antibodies seem not to represent a trigger for acute sCAD or ischemic stroke but may rather be linked to the metabolism and turnover of collagen type I.

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