Although MSCs have been shown to localize only to the injured brain using immunohistochemistry (Chen et al., 2001; Vendrame et al., 2004), intravenously transplanted human MSCs are functionally involved in repair in ischemic stroke rats, possibly by providing human insulin‐like growth factor 1 (IGF‐1), vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), epidermal growth factor (EGF), basic fibroblast growth factor (FGF), and neurotrophic neurotrophic factors to the host brain (Wakabayashi et al., 2010). Here, VEGFA is linked to ischemic stroke.