Table 1.

Features of selected, potential biomarkers of post-stroke regeneration. VEGF—vascular endothelial growth factor; Ang2—angiopoietin 2; BDNF—brain-derived neurotrophic factor; MMP9—matrix metalloproteinase 9.

Protein	Potential Advantages of Protein	References
VEGF	Risk factors do not affect the level of VEGF, indicating the possibility of widespread use among patients.	[26]
	The concentration of VEGF is significantly increased in post-stroke patients and remains augmented for 90 days, thus enabling the assessment of its changes during treatment.	[26,27]
	Rehabilitation may influence the level of VEGF, thus allowing the treatment progress to be monitored, and assess patient’s outcome.	[29]
Ang2	The Ang2 expression in animal model may be linked with vasodilatation, destabilization of vessels, and detachment of pericytes in acute phase and the promotion of endothelial cell survival, and stabilization of vasculature in subacute phase of stroke, thus allowing the additional identification and differentiation of stroke phases among patients.	[34]
	Rehabilitation increases the Tie2 receptor, thus suggesting the role of Ang2-Tie2 in improving cerebral blood flow and microvasculature.	[35]
BDNF	Useful post-stroke recovery marker due to its broad neurotrophic activity and changes in its plasma concentration during recovery.	[46,47,54,55]
	The level of BDNF does not differ between sex, age and the initial severity of stroke.	[55]
	The correlation between low serum BDNF levels in the first day after stroke correlates with the poorer long-term functional prognosis.	[50,51,52]
	The positive correlation between serum BDNF level with function and mental status in post-stroke patients.	[53,56,57]
Irisin	Low concentration of irisin in hyper-acute stroke phase is associated with poor patients’ status (according to NIHSS scale) and outcomes three months after the ischemic episode, as well as increased mortality	[63,66,67]
MMP9	Increased level of MMP9 in hyper-acute phase of stroke is related to severity of stroke (according to NIHSS scale) regardless of other variables such as gender, age, and comorbidities (hypertension, diabetes, hyperlipidemia, etc.).	[70]
	High level of serum MMP9 in the acute phase of stroke is correlated with an increased risk of death or severe disability.	[72]
	High concentration of MMP9 in plasma correlates with increased risk of hemorrhagic transformation and infarct growth.	[74]