Transcriptomic analysis of plasma extracellular vesicles from patients with ischemic stroke of different etiologies undergoing mechanical thrombectomy

INTRODUCTION: Accurate ischemic stroke (IS) etiologic diagnosis provides an appropriate secondary prevention strategy and better outcome. Currently, 45% of IS are cryptogenic urging to find novel approaches to enhance diagnostic precision and secondary stroke prevention. OBJETIVE: To study the transcriptomic content of circulating extracellular vesicles (EVs) to delineate the molecular profile and potential biomarkers of IS etiologies. RESULTS:21 consecutive patients with moderate or severe ischemic stroke (IS) and different IS etiologies were included to perform the transcriptomic analysis of plasma EVs comprising: atherothrombotic (AT, n=6), Cardioembolic (CE, n=10), and embolic stroke of undetermined source (ESUS, n=5). The RNASeq analysis of EVs detected clusters of differentially expressed genes (DEGs) related to IS etiologies. Overall design: Transcriptome of patients with ischemic stroke of atherothrombotic (AT, n=6), cardioembolic (CE, n=10) or undetermined etiology (ESUS, n=5) were compared in circulating extracellular vesicles .