TY - JOUR A1 - Schanbacher, Constanze A1 - Bieber, Michael A1 - Reinders, Yvonne A1 - Cherpokova, Deya A1 - Teichert, Christina A1 - Nieswandt, Bernhard A1 - Sickmann, Albert A1 - Kleinschnitz, Christoph A1 - Langhauser, Friederike A1 - Lorenz, Kristina T1 - ERK1/2 activity is critical for the outcome of ischemic stroke JF - International Journal of Molecular Sciences N2 - Ischemic disorders are the leading cause of death worldwide. The extracellular signal-regulated kinases 1 and 2 (ERK1/2) are thought to affect the outcome of ischemic stroke. However, it is under debate whether activation or inhibition of ERK1/2 is beneficial. In this study, we report that the ubiquitous overexpression of wild-type ERK2 in mice (ERK2\(^{wt}\)) is detrimental after transient occlusion of the middle cerebral artery (tMCAO), as it led to a massive increase in infarct volume and neurological deficits by increasing blood–brain barrier (BBB) leakiness, inflammation, and the number of apoptotic neurons. To compare ERK1/2 activation and inhibition side-by-side, we also used mice with ubiquitous overexpression of the Raf-kinase inhibitor protein (RKIP\(^{wt}\)) and its phosphorylation-deficient mutant RKIP\(^{S153A}\), known inhibitors of the ERK1/2 signaling cascade. RKIP\(^{wt}\) and RKIP\(^{S153A}\) attenuated ischemia-induced damages, in particular via anti-inflammatory signaling. Taken together, our data suggest that stimulation of the Raf/MEK/ERK1/2-cascade is severely detrimental and its inhibition is rather protective. Thus, a tight control of the ERK1/2 signaling is essential for the outcome in response to ischemic stroke. KW - ERK1/2 KW - tMCAO KW - ischemic stroke KW - RKIP Y1 - 2022 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-283991 SN - 1422-0067 VL - 23 IS - 2 ER -