C1q/TNF-related protein 9: A novel therapeutic target in ischemic stroke?

Ischemic stroke has become a serious public health problem, which is in need of advanced research on the prevention and treatment. As a newly discovered adipokine, C1q/TNF-related protein 9 (CTRP9) plays a vital role in the pathogenesis of coronary atherosclerosis disease (CAD), including regulating energy metabolism, modulating vasomotion, protecting endothelial cells, inhibiting platelet activation, inhibiting pathological vascular remodeling, stabilizing atherosclerotic plaques, and protecting heart. The present review raised a critical question of whether CTRP9 could also have the capacity of protecting the brain tissue and decreasing the severity of brain lesions in the ischemic stroke since CAD and ischemic stroke are both the major subtypes of atherosclerotic vascular diseases which share a large of common pathogenesis in the vascular lesion particularly. Therefore, we proposed that CTRP9 could be a feasible biomarker and potential therapeutic target in ischemic stroke on the basis of the reviewed research reports.