AUTHOR=Sun Lixiao , Fu Yuxin , Yang Jiecheng , Wang Xiaoli , Cui Dongsheng , Feng Qiang , Song Xuguang , Li Zhe , Wang Zhuangwei , Wang Wenchao , Wu Yiping , Wang Jingmei TITLE=Aberrant highly prokineticin 2 and its association with inflammatory indexes and functional recovery in acute ischemic stroke patients JOURNAL=Frontiers in Neurology VOLUME=Volume 16 - 2025 YEAR=2025 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/neurology/articles/10.3389/fneur.2025.1559688 DOI=10.3389/fneur.2025.1559688 ISSN=1664-2295 ABSTRACT=BackgroundProkineticin 2 is associated with the macrophages-mediated biological process, neuronal death, oxidative stress, and inflammatory processes, while its clinical value in patients with acute ischemic stroke (AIS) has not been explored. This study aimed to evaluate the level of prokineticin 2 and its association with inflammatory indexes and functional recovery in AIS patients.MethodsSerum samples in 210 AIS patients at admission and in 30 healthy subjects at enrollment were collected. Then, prokineticin 2 levels were determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.ResultsProkineticin 2 level was higher in AIS patients than healthy subjects (p < 0.001). Prokineticin 2 showed an acceptable ability to distinguish the AIS patients from healthy subjects (area under the curve: 0.812) with the best cut-off value at 4 ng/mL. No matter dividing the prokineticin 2 by continuous variable or quartiles, its value was positively correlated with the high sensitivity C reactive protein (HsCRP), tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α), and interleukin 17A (IL-17A) (all p < 0.001). Prokineticin 2 showed a higher trend in AIS patients with Modified Rankin Scale (mRS) score>2 compared with those with mRS score ≤2, but without statistical significance (p = 0.095). Besides, there was no association between prokineticin 2 by quartiles and the percentage of mRS > 2 (p > 0.05).ConclusionProkineticin 2 aberrantly highly expresses, and it indicates the inflammatory status, but with limited ability to predict the neural functional recovery in AIS patients.