Abstract
BACKGROUND: Our previous study discovers that Jun N-terminal kinase pathway-associated phosphatase (JKAP) is dysregulated and negatively links with the disease severity in acute ischemic stroke (AIS) patients. This study intended to further evaluate the linkage of JKAP and interleukin (IL)-17A with anxiety, depression, and cognitive impairment in AIS patients. METHODS: Serum JKAP and IL-17A levels in 120 AIS patients at admission, 1st (D1), 3rd (D3), 7th (D7) day after admission, and from 20 controls, were detected by ELISA. Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) and Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) were assessed in AIS patients at discharge. RESULTS: JKAP (p < 0.001) was reduced, but IL-17A (p < 0.001) was increased in AIS patients versus controls, and negatively correlated with each other in AIS patients (p = 0.014). In AIS patients, JKAP was reduced from baseline to D1 and then increased to D7 (p < 0.001), while IL-17A exhibited an opposite trend (p < 0.001). Notably, JKAP at D3 was negatively linked with HADS-anxiety score (p = 0.044), then decreased JKAP at D3 (p = 0.017) and D7 (p = 0.037) related to increased anxiety occurrence. However, JKAP was not linked to HADS-depression score or depression occurrence. Besides, JKAP at multiple time points were positively associated with MMSE score (all p < 0.05); decreased JKAP at D3 (p = 0.017) and D7 (p = 0.026) related to raised cognitive impairment occurrence. CONCLUSION: JKAP initially decreases then shows an increasing trend after disease onset, and its decrement relates to elevated IL-17A, anxiety and cognitive impairment in AIS patients.