Table 1.

Candidate makers of cardioembolic stroke.

Name	Type of Biomarker	Protein Accession #	Sample size	Protein Levels Regarding Etiology	Main Function	Ref
Albumin	Protein	P02768	200	CE < other etiologies	Regulates colloidal osmotic pressure of blood.	[52]
ANP	Protein	P01160	262	CE > other etiologies	Cardiovascular homeostatic hormone.	[32]
BNP	Protein fragment	-	1300	CE > other etiologies	ProBNP cleavage product. Cardiac hormone that regulates cardiovascular homeostasis.	[24, 29, 31, 39]
CK-MB	Protein	P12277-P06732**	262	CE > other etiologies	Mediates energy transduction in tissues. Increased in heart damage diseases.	[32, 39]
CRP*	Protein	P02741	985	CE > other etiologies; LAA > other etiologies; no difference among subtypes	Displays several functions associated with host defense. Risk marker of AF.	[49-54, 59]
D-dimer	Protein fragment	-	1430	CE > other etiologies	Fibrin degradation product.	[22-26, 52, 59, 60]
FDP	Group of proteins	-	69	CE > non-CE	Involved in coagulation/fibrinolysis processes.	[26]
Fibrinogen*	Protein	P02671	269	CE < LAA; no difference among subtypes	Yields monomers that polymerize into fibrin and is a cofactor in platelet aggregation.	[25, 26]
FMC	Protein aggregate	-	69	CE > non-CE	Involved in coagulation/fibrinolysis processes.	[26]
IL-1β	Protein	P01584	227	CE > other etiologies	Pro-inflammatory cytokine.	[33, 40]
IL-6	Protein	P05231	227	CE > other etiologies	Pro-inflammatory cytokine.	[33, 40]
NT-proBNP	Protein fragment	-	92	CE > non-CE	Pro-BNP cleavage product. High levels may help to select stroke patients with AF.	[27]
Pro-BNP	Protein	P16860	262	CE > other etiologies	BNP precursor. ProBNP might be useful to reclassify undetermined stroke as of CE origin.	[32]
S100B	Protein	P04271	33	CE > other etiologies	Involved in metal-ion binding and in the regulation of protein phosphorylation in brain tissue.	[61]
sCD40L*	Protein	P29965	132	No difference among etiologies	Inflammatory marker. Elevated in AF patients.	[62, 63]
SF	Protein complex	-	69	CE > other etiologies	Involved in coagulation/fibrinolysis processes.	[26]
sRAGE	Protein	Q9UQ07	1189	CE > other etiologies	Growth factor for several cell types.	[24,55]
TNF-α	Protein	P01375	227	CE > other etiologies	Pro-inflammatory cytokine.	[33,40]
vWF	Protein	P04275	1551	CE and LAA > other etiologies	Promotes platelet adhesion to the sub-endothelial matrix. Higher in patients with AF.	[33-38]

ANP: atrial natriuretic peptide; AF: atrial fibrillation; BNP: b-type natriuretic peptide; CE: cardioembolic; CK-MB: creatine kinase MB; CRP: C-reactive protein; FDP: fibrin/ fibrinogen degradation products, FMC: fibrin monomer complex; IL-1β: interleukin 1-beta; IL-6: interleukin 6; LAA: large artery atherosclerosis; ; NT-proBNP: N-terminal part of pro-BNP; Pro-BNP: proform of BNP; SF: soluble fibrin; sRAGE: soluble receptor for advanced glycation end products; SVD: small vessel disease; TNF-α: tumour necrosis factor alpha;

^*Candidate marker with controversial results among studies.

^**UniProt codes from CK-MM and CK-BB.