Scientists suggest that treating stoke patients with an
endogenous immunomodulatory neuroprotectant protein, αB-
crystallin (Cryab), could help limit brain damage even if first
administered 12 hours after the onset of stroke. Studies by a
Stanford University School of Medicine team in a mouse model of
stroke found that administering Cryab to animals 12 hours after
stroke induction led to significantly reduced stroke volume and
lower levels of inflammatory cytokines associated with stroke
pathology than untreated mice. Conversely, animals in which the
Cryab gene had been knocked out demonstrated increased lesion
size and diminished neurologic function after stroke than wild-
type mice. The research team, led by Gary K. Steinberg, M.D.,
director of Stanford’s Institute for Neuro-Innovation and
Translational Neurosciences, reports its findings in PNAS in a
paper titled “Systemic augmentation of αB-crystallin provides
therapeutic benefit twelve hours post-stroke onset via immune
modulation.” Tissue plasminogen acti