Abstract 3406: Circulating Cancer Cell Microparticles Expressing Tissue Factors in Patients with Cancer-Related Stroke

Backgrounds: Circulating microparticles (MP) are reported to be functional in various disease conditions. There is considerable interest in assessing the potential role of tissue factor-bearing microparticles (TF + MP) in the pathogenesis of the hypercoagulable state accompanying cancer. We tested that the levels of circulating cancer cells MP expressing tissue factors in patients with cancer-related stroke. Methods: The expression of epithelial cell adhesion molecule (EpCAM) which is a cell surface molecule that is known to be highly expressed in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and tissue factors on circulating MP was evaluated by flow cytometry from 60 NSCLC patients with ischemic stroke (C+S group), 30 NSCLC without ischemic storke (C group), 30 ischemic stroke without cancer (S group), and 30 healthy subjects (H group). Conventional stroke mechanisms (CSMs) were determined using cardiologic and vascular studies and C+S group was subdivided depending on presence of CSMs. Additionally, the coagulation status was assessed based on the serum D-dimer levels. Results: The level of EpCAM + MP did not differ between C+S and C groups. However, the level of EpCAM + TF + MP was increased in C+S without CSMs than in those with CSMs and other groups (C, S, and H group) ( Figure ). Correlation analysis showed that levels of EpCAM + TF + were increased with the increase in the serum D-dimer levels. Moreover, EpCAM + TF + MP did not change although the serum D-dimer levels were decreased after anticoagulation treatment. Conclusion: Our data showed TF + MP originated from cancer cells has an important role in the pathogenesis of the cancer-related stroke. Figure . EpCAM + TF + MP is significantly increased in C+S without CSMs group than those with CSMs and C, S, and H group.