Does stroke impair immunological memory and increase infectious disease risk during the chronic phase of recovery

Increasing numbers of patients are surviving long-term after stroke. However, complications experienced during recovery can increase death, disability and worsen brain function. Infection is the most frequent complication of stroke but it is uncertain why patients have increased risk. We know that stroke causes some functions of the immune system, that normally protect us from infection, to stop working. Our adaptive immune system makes specific, protective immune responses against any possible infection. It also generates memory allowing more efficient immune responses on second exposure. My work has shown that immune cells important for immunological memory, are reduced in number after stroke. The overall aim of my project is to understand the scale of disruption to immune memory after stroke, and whether this increases infection risk, using experimental animal models and health data from patients. This may provide promising new strategies to reduce infection, disability and death during stroke recovery.