Identification of Biomarkers in Patients with Thrombotic Thrombocytopenic Purpura Presenting with Large and Small Ischemic Stroke

BACKGROUND: Thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (TTP) is a rare blood disorder resulting in organ damage including ischemic strokes. We sought to characterize the neuroimaging patterns of stroke in a large cohort of patients with immune-mediated TTP (iTTP) and determined their associations with clinical and laboratory parameters and outcomes. METHODS: We analyzed the Alabama TTP Registry who had laboratory confirmation of acute iTTP. We reviewed the neuroimaging patterns of those with ischemic stroke on MRI, clinical information, and laboratory results. Small ischemic strokes were ≤20 mm in their maximum diameter in the axial plane. Large ischemic strokes were >20 mm. Student t test, Mann-Whitney U test, and χ² test were all used for data analysis. RESULTS: Of 108 iTTP patients, 21 had ischemic stroke on neuroimaging. The median platelet count in these patients was 12 × 10⁹/L (interquartile range, IQR, 8.8–21 × 10⁹/L), plasma ADAMTS13 activity 1.8 U/dL (IQR 0–4.5 U/dL), and the mean plasma level of anti-ADAMTS13 IgG was 6,595.8 U/mL (SD 3,448.9 U/mL). Comparison between patients with large ischemic strokes (n = 10) and small ischemic strokes (n = 11) revealed that patients with small stroke were older (p = 0.043) and had higher plasma levels of citrullinated histone 3 (p = 0.006) and histone/DNA complex (p = 0.014) than those with large strokes. There were no significant differences between 2 stroke groups in mortality or exacerbation. CONCLUSIONS: iTTP patients can present with large ischemic strokes and are usually younger. Further research should be performed in assessing different etiologies of iTTP-associated stroke based on neutrophil extracellular trap formation biomarkers (e.g., histone markers) seen in small ischemic stroke.