Response to Letter by Emsley et al

Abstract

Response: We appreciate Dr Emsley and colleagues’ attention to our recent review of the immunological changes that supervene after acute ischemic brain injury.1 Their study describing a reduction of cytokine production by endotoxin-stimulated whole blood from stroke patients relative to controls is of clinical interest because the magnitude of the suppression was inversely correlated with stroke severity and outcome, although weakly correlated with infarct volume.2 If validated in further studies the amount of cytokine production after endotoxin stimulation of whole blood ex vivo could be a test assisting at the bed …