Wong et al. (2019) found that IL-1R1 mediates the deleterious effects of IL-1 in ischemic stroke brain and that targeting cell-specific IL-1R1 in the brain may confer beneficial therapeutic effects for stroke and other cerebrovascular diseases. Clinical studies with large samples have shown that elevated caspase-8 levels are associated with an increased incidence of ischemic stroke (Muhammad et al., 2018). Here, IL1R1 is linked to ischemic stroke.