CCN1 Is a Therapeutic Target for Reperfused Ischemic Brain Injury

Ischemic stroke can lead to systemic inflammation, which can activate peripheral immune cells, causing neuroinflammation and brain injury. Meningeal lymphatics play a crucial role in transporting solutes and immune cells out of the brain and draining them into cervical lymph nodes (CLNs). However, the role of meningeal lymphatics in regulating systemic inflammation during the reperfusion stage after ischemia is not well understood. In this study, we demonstrated that brain infarct size, neuronal loss, and the effector function of inflammatory macrophage subsets were reduced after ischemia-reperfusion and disruption of meningeal lymphatics. Spatial memory function was improved in the late stage of ischemic stroke following meningeal lymphatic disruption. Brain-infiltrating immune cells, including neutrophils, monocytes, and T and natural killer cells, were reduced after cerebral ischemia-reperfusion and meningeal lymphatic disruption. Single-cell RNA sequencing analysis revealed that meningeal lymphatic disruption reprogrammed the transcriptome profile related to chemotaxis and leukocyte migration in CLN lymphatic endothelial cells (LECs), and it also decreased chemotactic CCN1 expression in floor LECs. Replenishment of CCN1 through intraventricular injection increased brain infarct size and neuronal loss, while restoring numbers of macrophages/microglia in the brains of meningeal lymphatic-disrupted mice after ischemic stroke. Blocking CCN1 in cerebrospinal fluid reduced brain infarcts and improves spatial memory function after ischemia-reperfusion injury. In summary, this study indicates that CCN1-mediated detrimental inflammation was alleviated after cerebral ischemia-reperfusion injury and meningeal lymphatic disruption. CCN1 represents a novel therapeutic target for inhibiting systemic inflammation in the brain-CLN axis after ischemia-reperfusion injury.