Stroke is the second cause of death and the first cause of adult disability in industrialized countries. The goal of emergency therapy for acute ischemic stroke is prompt restoration of blood flow to regions of brain that are ischemic but not yet infarcted. Based on this, the inventors compare the plasma concentration of total tPA (antigenic: active + PAI-1 bound) in patients with acute ischemic stroke before any treatment with those in a healthy control group, to evaluate the interest of tPA as a potential diagnostic biomarker in the acute phase of ischemic stroke.
In particular, the present invention relates to method for discriminating at early stage an hemorrhagic stroke from an ischemic stroke or a mimic stroke in a subject in need thereof, comprising the steps of i) determining in a blood sample obtained from the said subject the level of tissue-type plasminogen activator (tPA), ii) comparing the level determined in step i) with a reference value and iii) concluding when the level of tissue-type plasminogen activator (tPA) determined at step i) is higher than the reference value is predictive of a risk of having or developing an ischemic stroke or a mimic stroke or concluding when the level of tissue-type plasminogen activator (tPA) determined at step i) is lower than the reference value is predictive of a risk of having or developing a hemorrhagic stroke