Apr 15 2020

The research group led by Contract Assistant Professor Itaru Ninomiya, and Associate Professor Masato Kanazawa of Department of Neurology, Brain Research Institute, Niigata University, has demonstrated for the first time that the levels of an inflammatory protein, pentraxin 3 (PTX3), are elevated during the hyperacute phase of branch atheromatous disease (BAD)—an ischemic stroke subtype—and have the potential as a diagnostic biomarker. BAD, often associated with serious sequalae, presents early symptoms that are similar to lacunar infarction (LI), therefore is extremely difficult to differentiate. Moreover, unlike LI, exacerbation of BAD commonly occurs despite treatment initiation, and early differentiation of BAD might significantly contribute to the development of treatment strategies.

Further details of the discovery of this novel diagnostic marker for ischemic stroke, associated with difficulty in differential diagnosis, were published on April 6, 2020 (Japan time), in the European Journal of Neurology.

Publication Details

Title: Elevated serum pentraxin 3 levels might predict the diagnosis of branch atheromatous disease at a very early stage

Journal: European Journal of Neurology

Authors: Itaru Ninomiya, Masato Kanazawa, Masahiro Uemura, Osamu Onodera

DOI: 10.1111/ene.14249