We observed that thrombolysis with rtPA led to a twofold decrease of stroke-induced IL-6 (Figure 6a: −58.7 pg ml−1 in ischemic WT mice treated with rtPA compared with untreated ischemic WT mice, P=0.0143) and CCL2 (Figure 6b: −288.7 pg ml−1 in ischemic WT mice treated with rtPA compared with untreated ischemic WT mice, P=0.0500) increases in the ipsilateral cortex of WT mice. The gene discussed is CCL2; the disease is Stroke.