Brain-derived neurotrophic factor in peripheral blood mononuclear cells and stroke outcome.

IMPACT STATEMENT: There are a great number of arguments suggesting that BDNF could be involved in stroke recovery dependent of neuroplasticity. Methods that can enhance BDNF levels in the ischemic brain could therefore have great clinical value. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) that contain BDNF and infiltrate early and sustainably the ischemic brain might be used as a cellular vector to deliver BDNF to the ischemic brain and consequently promote recovery. This work is important in this field to show if this BDNF derived from BDNF could exert a positive action on stroke recovery. Our main results showed that a high BDNF level at day 3 after hospital admission was associated with a 12.4 fold increase in favorable outcome after adjusting for still recognized prognostic markers. The new information in this field is this finding identifies PBMC as an attractive cellular vector to deliver BDNF to the ischemic brain.