Nakamura et al. (2019) have shown that perlecan is upregulated after stroke and is important for BBB maintenance and pericyte accumulation after ischemic stroke. Moreover, recent findings indicate that enzymatic degradation of perlecan, occurring early after stroke, generates the C-terminal domain V (DV) of perlecan, which is beneficial as a neuroprotective molecule and a promoter of post-stroke brain repair (Roberts et al., 2012). Here, HSPG2 is linked to ischemic stroke.