# Reciprocal brain-lung responses in post-stroke pneumonia

> **NIH NIH R21** · YALE UNIVERSITY · 2024 · $209,375

## Abstract

Project Summary
Stroke is the leading cause of disability in the United States. Patients with stroke are at increased risk of
severe pneumonia and post-stroke pneumonia is associated with poor outcomes. This multi-PI project will
leverage the complementary expertise of a Stroke Neurologist/Immunologist and a Pulmonary Critical Care
physician/Immunologist to jointly tackle the mechanisms of increased risk of severe pneumonia in stroke
patients and the mechanisms of dysregulated neuroinflammation and neurological recovery after stroke.
Preliminary work in our experimental model of ischemic stroke and Klebsiella pneumonia demonstrates that
bacterial inoculation into the lungs leads to reduced neutrophil recruitment and increased bacterial
dissemination after stroke. Furthermore, pneumonia leads to enhanced neuroinflammation and increased
interferon responses in the microglia and endothelial cells after stroke. The primary hypothesis is that stroke
leads to an impairment in neutrophil function allowing for bacterial escape and dissemination through the body,
which in turn leads to a delay in the resolution of neuroinflammation in the brain and further brain injury. The
overall goal of the proposal is to identify new treatment targets to reduce post-stroke pneumonia and improve
outcomes after stroke.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10894099
- **Project number:** 5R21NS134229-02
- **Recipient organization:** YALE UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Charles S Dela Cruz
- **Activity code:** R21 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $209,375
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2023-08-01 → 2026-07-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10894099

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10894099, Reciprocal brain-lung responses in post-stroke pneumonia (5R21NS134229-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10894099. Licensed CC0.

---

*[NIH grants dataset](/datasets/nih-grants) · CC0 1.0*