Interleukin-12 in acute ischemic stroke patients.

Cytokines are important mediators of stroke-induced immunological/inflammatory reaction which contributes to brain infarct progression as well as to the disease severity and outcome. The aim of the study was to evaluate the levels of the proinflammatory and immunomodulatory cytokine interleukin-12 (IL-12) in serum of acute ischemic stroke patients, and to investigate the relation between these levels and demographic, laboratory, neuroimaging, and clinical data. The study comprised 23 first-ever ischemic stroke patients and 15 age- and sex-matched controls. Blood sampling for the determination of IL-12 and such peripheral markers of inflammation as erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) and leukocyte count, together with cranial CT were performed within 24 h of stroke, while neurological and functional deficits were estimated, respectively, with the Scandinavian Stroke Scale (SSS) and Barthel Index (BI) within the same period and two weeks later. Stroke patients displayed significantly higher serum IL-12 levels in comparison with controls. The serum IL-12 levels in stroke patients correlated significantly with the ESR values, the volume of early brain CT hypodense areas, and with the SSS and BI scores calculated within both studied times. The results indirectly suggest that IL-12 may play a role in the pathophysiology of ischemic stroke.