Establishment of a method for detecting peripheral blood circulating brain microvascular endothelial cells, a novel biomarker for blood-brain barrier injury / 南方医科大学学报

ABSTRACT

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To establish a method for detecting circulating brain microvascular endothelial cells (cBMECs), a novel biomarker of blood-brain barrier (BBB) injury.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Blood samples were collected from 33 patients with AIDS encephalitis and 13 healthy subjects for detection of cBMECs, cECs and EPCs using magnetic affinity isolation and immune identification technology.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The numbers of cBMECs, cECs and EPCs were significantly higher in the AIDS patients than in the control subjects (t=4.298, P<0.01; t=4.886, P<0.01; t=4.889, P<0.01). An significant association was also noted between HIV load and cBMEC number (r=0.928, P<0.01).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>We have successfully established a method for detecting peripheral blood cBMECs, which can be of important value in non-invasive assessment of BBB injury.</p>