The main findings of this study are: (i) FKN levels in patients with moderate to severe ischemic stroke differ from controls at distinct time points; (ii) after ischemic stroke, the temporal profile of FKN levels differs in regard to stroke severity; (iii) dynamics of FKN are independently associated with neurological outcome; (iv) dynamics of FKN inversely correlate with the extent of brain damage as measured by S100B; and (v) the correlation between FKN and CRP and TIMP-1 that is present in healthy controls is not present in stroke patients, neither in the acute nor in the prolonged stage. The gene discussed is CX3CL1; the disease is ischemic stroke.