Article Text
Abstract
Infections occur commonly after stroke and are strongly associated with an unfavourable functional outcome of these patients. Approaches for effective management of poststroke infection remain scarce, presenting an urgent need for preventive anti-infection strategies for patients who have suffered a stroke. Emerging evidence indicates that stroke impairs systemic immune responses and increases the susceptibility to infections, suggesting that the modification of impaired immune defence could be beneficial. In this review, we summarised previous attempts to prevent poststroke infections using prophylactic antibiotics and the current understanding of stroke-induced immunosuppression. Further elucidation of the immune mechanisms of stroke will pave the way to tailored design of new treatment to combat poststroke infection via modifying the immune system.
- stroke
- infection
- post-stroke immunosuppression
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Footnotes
Contributors QL, F-DS and XW formulated the concept, KS reviewed the articles and drafted the manuscript, KW contributed to discussion and editing the manuscript.
Funding This study was supported in part by the National Basic Research Program of China, grant 2013CB966900; National Science Foundation of China, grant 81230028, 81301044, 81471535; American Heart Association, grant 16SDG27250236; National Institutes of Health, grant R01NS092713; National Multiple Sclerosis Society, grant RG-1507-05318.
Competing interests None declared.
Provenance and peer review Commissioned; externally peer reviewed.
Data sharing statement No additional data are available.