CD4(+)CD25(+) Regulatory T Cells in Intracranial Thrombi Are Inversely Correlated with Hemorrhagic Transformation after Thrombectomy: A Clinical-Immunohistochemical Analysis of Acute Ischemic Stroke

Mechanical thrombectomy is not only effective for managing patients with acute ischemic stroke (AIS), but it also enables a valuable histological analysis of thrombi. Previous studies indicated that regulatory T cells (Treg) adoptive transfer might alleviate the hemorrhagic transformation. However, whether Treg in intracranial thrombi correlates with hemorrhagic transformation after mechanical thrombectomy remains unclear. This study mainly analyzed the colocation of Treg markers in serial thrombus sections stained serially for CD4 and CD25 in groups of hemorrhagic or nonhemorrhagic transformation. Second, to investigate whether these immunohistochemical parameters could provide any additional information beyond hemorrhagic transformation, we compared the overlap between Treg markers among other groups, such as functional outcomes, stroke subtypes, and gender. Our results showed that the number of CD4(+)CD25(+) Treg cells was lower in the hemorrhagic transformation thrombi than in the nonhemorrhagic group (p < 0.001) but there were no significant differences otherwise. The present finding of CD4(+)CD25(+) Treg cell reductions in thrombi associated with hemorrhagic transformation provides the histological evidence supporting that thromboinflammation might involve in the pathological process of an acute stroke after mechanical thrombectomy.