Regulated upon Activation, Normal T-cell Expressed and Secreted (RANTES) is a proinflammatory chemokine produced by neurons and capable of upregulating neurotrophic factors and extending cell survival after ischemic stroke (Tokami et al., 2013), while IL-15 instructs the generation of a distinct memory T-lymphocyte subset, intermediate between naive and central memory cells (Cieri et al., 2013). The gene discussed is IL15; the disease is ischemic stroke.