High serum levels of caspase-cleaved cytokeratin-18 are associated with malignant middle cerebral artery infarction patient mortality

Abstract Background There have been found apoptotic changes in brain tissue samples from humans after cerebral ischemia. Caspase-cleaved cytokeratin (CCCK)-18 could appears in blood during apoptosis. High circulating levels of CCCK-18 have been associated with a poor prognosis in patients with cerebral process, such as traumatic brain injury and spontaneous cerebral hemorrhage. However, they have not been explored in patients with ischemic stroke. Thus, the aim of this study was to determine whether there is an association between serum CCCK-18 levels and mortality in patients with severe malignant middle cerebral artery infarction (MMCAI). Methods This was an observational, prospective and multicentre study. We included patients with severe MMCAI. We considered MMCAI as severe when Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) was lower than 9. We measured serum CCCK-18 levels at the diagnosis moment of the severe MMCAI. Results We found that non-surviving severe MMCAI patients (n = 33) showed lower GCS and platelet count, and higher serum CCCK-18 levels than survivor ones (n = 33). We found an area under the curve (AUC) of serum CCCK-18 levels to predict 30-day mortality of 82% (95% CI = 71%–91%; p < 0.001). In the multiple logistic regression analysis was found that serum CCCK-18 levels were associated with 30-day mortality (OR = 1.023; 95% CI = 1.010–1.037; p = 0.001) after to control for platelet count and GCS. Conclusions To our knowledge, this is the first series reporting data on serum CCCK-18 levels in ischemic stroke patients. The novel findings of our study were that non-surviving severe MMCAI patients had higher serum CCCK-18 levels than surviving patients, and that there is an association between high serum CCCK-18 levels and MMCAI patients mortality