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Background and Purpose-Determining the underlying cause of stroke is important to optimize secondary prevention treatment. Increased blood levels of natriuretic peptides (B-type natriuretic peptide/N-terminal pro-BNP [BNP/ NT-proBNP]) have been repeatedly associated with cardioembolic stroke. Here, we evaluate their clinical value as pathogenic biomarkers for stroke through a literature systematic review and individual participants' data meta-analysis. Methods-We searched publications in PubMed database until November 2013 that compared BNP and NT-proBNP circulating levels among stroke causes. Standardized individual participants' data were collected to estimate predictive values of BNP/NT-proBNP for cardioembolic stroke. Dichotomized BNP/NT-proBNP levels were included in logistic regression models together with clinical variables to assess the sensitivity and specificity to identify cardioembolic strokes and the additional value of biomarkers using area under the curve and integrated discrimination improvement index. Results-From 23 selected articles, we collected information of 2834 patients with a defined cause. BNP/NT-proBNP levels were significantly elevated in cardioembolic stroke until 72 hours from symptoms onset. Predictive models showed a sensitivity >90% and specificity >80% when BNP/NT-proBNP were added considering the lowest and the highest quartile, respectively. Both peptides also increased significantly the area under the curve and integrated discrimination improvement index compared with clinical models. Sensitivity, specificity, and precision of the models were validated in 197 patients with initially undetermined stroke with final pathogenic diagnosis after ancillary follow-up. Conclusions-Natriuretic peptides are strongly increased in cardioembolic strokes. Future multicentre prospective studies comparing BNP and NT-proBNP might aid in finding the optimal biomarker, the best time point, and the optimal cutoff points for cardioembolic stroke identification. 2 Patients with cardioembolic stroke are treated with anticoagulant drugs, whereas antiplatelet agents are the treatment of choice for patients with large artery atherosclerosis (LAA) stroke and small vessel disease (SVD).3 Cardioembolic strokes are generally more severe and more prone to recurrence than LAA or SVD and account for approximately one fifth of ischemic strokes. 4 However, in spite of the importance of an accurate etiopathogenic classification, the cause of ≈35% of patients remains undetermined, even after complete evaluation.5 This group of patients presents a rate of recurrence of ≈30% during the first year after the event, partly explained by an inappropriate secondary prevention treatment.6 Stroke of undetermined cause is an heterogeneous group that includes patients with 2 or more potential causes of stroke, patients with <50% of stenosis and patients with a negative diagnostic workup.7 From the latter, a negative diagnostic might be caused by a transitory or reversible condition which is difficult to detect, such as a...

Stroke is the fifth leading cause of death and the most frequent cause of disability worldwide. Currently, stroke diagnosis is based on neuroimaging; therefore, the lack of a rapid tool to diagnose stroke is still a major concern. In addition, therapeutic approaches to combat ischemic stroke are still scarce, since the only approved therapies are directed toward restoring blood flow to the affected brain area. However, due to the reduced time window during which these therapies are effective, few patients benefit from them; therefore, alternative treatments are urgently needed to reduce stroke brain damage in order to improve patients’ outcome. The inflammatory response triggered after the ischemic event plays an important role in the progression of stroke; consequently, the study of inflammatory molecules in the acute phase of stroke has attracted increasing interest in recent decades. Here, we provide an overview of the inflammatory processes occurring during ischemic stroke, as well as the potential for these inflammatory molecules to become stroke biomarkers and the possibility that these candidates will become interesting neuroprotective therapeutic targets to be blocked or stimulated in order to modulate inflammation after stroke.

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BNPs are associated with poststroke mortality independent of NIH Stroke Scale score, age, and sex. However, their translation to clinical practice seems difficult because BNP/NT-proBNP add only minor predictive value to clinical information.

The studied biomarkers were not sufficient for an accurate differential diagnosis of stroke in the hyperacute setting. Additional discovery of new biomarkers and improvement on laboratory techniques seem necessary for achieving a molecular diagnosis of stroke.

Stroke is the third leading cause of death in industrialized countries and one of the largest causes of permanent disability worldwide. Therapeutic options to fight stroke are still limited and the only approved drug is tissue-plasminogen activator (tPA) and/or mechanical thrombectomy. Post-stroke inflammation is well known to contribute to the expansion of the ischemic lesion, whereas its resolution stimulates tissue repair and neuroregeneration processes. As inflammation highly influences susceptibility of stroke patients to overcome the disease, there is an increasing need to develop new diagnostic, prognostic and therapeutic strategies for post-stroke inflammation. This review provides a brief overview of the contribution of the inflammatory mechanisms to the pathophysiology of stroke. It specially focuses on the role of inflammatory biomarkers to help predicting stroke patients' outcome since some of those biomarkers might turn out to be targets to be therapeutically altered overcoming the urgent need for the identification of potent drugs to modulate stroke-associated inflammation. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled: Neuro Inflammation edited by Helga E. de Vries and Markus Schwaninger.