ORIGINAL PAPER Neuron Specific Enolase and C-reactive Protein Levels in Stroke and Its Subtypes: Correlation with Degree of Disability Aparna Pandey • Amit Kumar Shrivastava • Kiran Saxena Received: 7 December 2013 / Revised: 22 April 2014 / Accepted: 6 May 2014 Ó Springer Science+Business Media New York 2014 Abstract Stroke is an emergency which threatens life and third leading cause of death and long term disability in developed countries. The use of biomarkers in diagnosing stroke and assessing prognosis is an emerging and rapidly evolving field. The study aimed to investigate the predic- tive value of biochemical marker of brain damage neuron- specific enolase (NSE) and systemic inflammatory marker C-reactive protein (CRP) with respect to degree of dis- ability at the time of admission and short term in stroke patients. We investigated 120 patients with cerebrovascular stroke who were admitted within 72 h of onset of stroke in the Department of Neurology at Sri Aurobindo Institute of Medical Sciences, Indore, India. NSE and CRP were ana- lyzed by solid enzyme linked immunosorbent assay using analyzer and micro plate reader from Biorad 680. In all patients, the neurological status was evaluated by a stan- dardized neurological examination and the National Insti- tutes of Health Stroke Scale on admission and on day 7. Serum NSE and CRP concentration were found signifi- cantly increased in acute stroke cases as compared to control in present study ( \ 0.05 and \ 0.001 respectively). The maximum serum NSE and CRP levels within 72 h of admission were significantly higher in patients with greater degree of disability at the time of admission. Both bio- markers were found significantly correlated with neuro- logical disability and short term outcome. Our study showed that serum biomarkers NSE and CRP have high predictive value for determining severity and early neuro- behavioral outcome after acute stroke. Keywords Stroke Á Neuron specific enolase Á C-reactive protein Á National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale Introduction Stroke is one of the leading causes of death all over the world including India. Stroke is also a predisposing factor for epilepsy, falls and depression in developed countries [1, 2] and is a leading cause of functional impairments; with 20 % of survivors requiring institutional care after 3 months and 15–30 % being permanently disabled [3]. Stroke is no longer a disease of the developed world: low and middle-income countries account for 85.5 % of total stroke deaths worldwide and the number of disability- adjusted life years in these countries was approximately seven times that in high-income countries [4]. Despite advances in research during the last decade, prevention and treatment strategies still suffer from sig- nificant limitations, and therefore new technical and ana- lytical approaches are required. Technological advances in hunt of new blood biomarkers, during recent years, have permitted a more effective search for novel biomarkers and therapeutic targets that may allow for effective risk strati- fication and early diagnosis with subsequent rapid treat- ment. Neuron-specific enolase (NSE) is one such biochemical marker and has been the subject of many clinical and experimental studies. Previous studies [5, 6] A. Pandey Department of Biochemistry, Narshinbhai Patel Dental College and Hospital, Visnagar, India A. K. Shrivastava (&) Department of Biochemistry, Sudha Rustagi College of Dental Sciences and Research, Kheri More, Faridabad 121002, India e-mail: amitbc83@gmail.com K. Saxena Department of Biochemistry, Chirayu Medical College and Hospital, Bhopal, India 123 Neurochem Res DOI 10.1007/s11064-014-1328-9