Cold stress protein RBM3 responds to hypothermia and is associated with good stroke outcome.

Abstract

RNA-binding motif protein 3 is a molecular marker of hypothermia that has proved neuroprotective in neurodegenerative disease models. However, its relationship to the well-recognized therapeutic effect of hypothermia in ischaemic stroke had not been studied. In this work, the expression of RNA-binding motif protein 3 was investigated in ischaemic animal models subjected to systemic and focal brain hypothermia, specifically the effects of RNA-binding motif protein 3 silencing and overexpression on ischaemic lesions. Moreover, the association of RNA-binding motif protein 3 levels with body temperature and clinical outcome was evaluated in two independent cohorts of acute ischaemic stroke patients (n = 215); these levels were also determined in a third cohort of 31 patients derived from the phase III EuroHYP-1 trial of therapeutic cooling in ischaemic stroke. The preclinical data confirmed the increase of brain RNA-binding motif protein 3 levels in ischaemic animals subjected to systemic and focal hypothermia; this increase was selectively higher in the cooled hemisphere of animals undergoing focal brain hypothermia, thus confirming the direct effect of hypothermia on RNA-binding motif protein 3 expression, while RNA-binding motif protein 3 up-regulation in ischaemic brain regions led to functional recovery. Clinically, patients with body temperature <37.5°C in the first two cohorts had higher RNA-binding motif protein 3 values at 24 h and good outcome at 3 months post-ischaemic stroke, while RNA-binding motif protein 3 levels in the cooled third cohort tended to exceed those in placebo-treated patients. These results make RNA-binding motif protein 3 a molecular marker associated with the effect of hypothermia in ischaemic stroke and suggest its potential application as a promising protective target.

• Authors: Paulo Ávila-Gómez, Alba Vieites-Prado, Antonio Dopico-López, Saima Bashir, Héctor Fernández-Susavila, Carme Gubern, María Pérez-Mato, Clara Correa-Paz, Ramón Iglesias-Rey, Tomás Sobrino, Alejandro Bustamante, Sven Wellmann, Joan Montaner, Joaquín Serena, José Castillo, Pablo Hervella, Francisco Campos
• Journal: Brain communications (Brain Commun) Vol. 2 Issue 2 Pg. fcaa078 ( 2020) ISSN: 2632-1297 [Electronic] England
• PMID: 33585816 (Publication Type: Journal Article)
• Copyright: © The Author(s) (2020). Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Guarantors of Brain.