Circulating MicroRNAs as Potential Biomarkers for Ischemic Stroke in Patients with Asymptomatic Intracranial Artery Stenosis

To investigate the differential expressed circulating microRNA (miRNA) in asymptomatic intracranial artery stenosis (ICAS) patients with incident ischemic stroke. The results showed three miRNAs were differentially down-regulated (fold change >1.3 and P <0.05). 716 participants with asymptomatic ICAS at baseline from the Asymptomatic Polyvascular Abnormalities Community study were enrolled in this study (2010-2011). Among patients with intracranial artery stenosis, 12 subjects who had a new-onset incident ischemic stroke and 12 without stroke during the 2014-2015 follow-up period were used to analysis. MiRNA microarrays were used to distinguish circulating microRNA expression of baseline serum samples between the two groups.