Overexpression of sirtuin 2 and its association with prognosis in acute ischemic stroke patients

BACKGROUND: This study aimed to investigate the correlation of sirtuin 2 (SIRT2) with acute ischemic stroke (AIS) risk, severity, inflammation, and prognosis. METHODS: A hundred and sixty‐four first episode AIS patients and 164 age and gender matched non‐AIS patients with high‐stroke‐risk factors (controls) were enrolled. Peripheral blood was collected and serum was separated for SIRT2 and pro‐inflammatory cytokines detection by enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay. AIS patients were continually followed up to 36 months or death, then recurrence‐free survival (RFS) and overall survival (OS) were calculated. RESULTS: Serum SIRT2 expression was increased in AIS patients compared to controls (p < 0.001), then receiver operative characteristic curve disclosed that the serum SIRT2 expression could differentiate AIS patients from controls with a good area under curve of 0.890 (95%CI: 0.854–0.926), a sensitivity of 78.7% and a specificity of 91.5% at the best cut‐off point. Serum SIRT2 expression was positively correlated with National Institute of Health stroke scale score (p < 0.001), serum tumor necrosis factor‐α (p < 0.001), interleukin (IL)‐6 (p = 0.012) and IL‐17 (p < 0.001) expressions in AIS patients. In addition, serum SIRT2 expression was elevated in recurrent/dead AIS patients compared to non‐recurrent/dead AIS patients (p = 0.025), and was also increased in dead AIS patients compared to survivors (p = 0.006). Moreover, RFS (p = 0.029) and OS (p = 0.049) were both worse in AIS patients with SIRT2 high expression compared to AIS patients with SIRT2 low expression. CONCLUSION: SIRT2 may serve as a marker for AIS risk and prognosis in clinical practice.