Vall d’Hebron Research Institute (VHIR) and Universitat Autònoma of Barcelona (UAB) have patented a biomarker that can identify a protein which can predict the risk of suffering a hemorrhage after treatment for stroke. The license has been sold to Gendiag.Tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) is a protein involved in the breakdown of blood clots, which is frequently used to minimize the damage in the brain after stroke treatment. Despite the benefits, this treatment can produce hemorrhages. For that reason, researchers from the UAB Neuroscience Institute and the Research Group in Neurovascular Diseases at VHIR have worked together to “help doctors to decide if a patient can be treated in a safe way”, as Dr. Mercedes Unzeta from the UAB says.Researchers checked that the plasmatic determination of B-001 protein can predict the appearance of hemorrhages in patients with cerebral ischemic stroke after the treatment with tPA. In a study of 140 patients treated during the first three hours after the initial symptoms, researchers concluded that high levels of this biomarker compared to the reference values, determine a high probability of suffering hemorrhagic episodes and deterioration in the patients’ neurological evolution. Drs. Hernández-Guillamón and Joan Montaner from VHIR consider that the use of this biomarker could increase the safety of the thrombolytic treatment and could be extended it to more patients, nowadays, less than the 10 per cent of patients suffering strokes benefit from the tPA treatment.Stroke is the second cause of death in Spain and the most common of disability in adults worldwide. Most of the strokes are caused by blood clots that block a brain’s vessel and obstruct the blood flow.