University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Medicine and Public Health scientists have discovered a compound that blocks the body’s immune response and greatly reduces poststroke disability in animals, according to a Thursday release.
The research shows that particular immune cells, called CD4+ T-cells, produce a mediator that can cause further damage in stroke tissue.
Zsuzsanna Fabry, a professor of pathology and laboratory medicine, coauthored the report.
“This is very exciting because we haven’t had a new drug for stroke in decades, and this suggests a target for such a drug,” Fabry said.
In tests, normal mice died or suffered from disabilities from ischemic stroke, which is when a clot blocks the flow of oxygen-rich blood to the brain.
When given a shot of the new compound, it blocked the mediator, called interleukin (IL)-21. Brain scans and sections showed the treated mice suffered little or no brain damage.
According to the release, stroke is the fourth-leading killer in the world and a cause of permanent disability.
Stroke induces neural injury when injured brain cells prompt the immune cells to produce the damaging mediator once the clot is removed. The mediator kills the neurons in the blood-deprived brain tissue.
Matyas Sandor, professor of pathology and laboratory medicine, said in the release the study found high concentrations of CD4+ T-cells and the IL-21 mediator in damaged areas of the brain in people who died from stroke.
Sandor suggested the compound could become a treatment for stroke.
“We don’t have proof that it will work in humans, but similar accumulation of IL-21 producing cells suggests that it might,” Sandor said in the release.
The scientists published their findings Monday in the Journalism of Experimental Medicine.
