Genetic polymorphism and subtypes of ischemic stroke in Korean population.

Abstract

Ischemic stroke is the most common type of stroke (brain attack) in which a blood clot blocks the blood flow to a brain region, destroying its brain tissue (infarction). Although the symptoms of ischemic stroke are similar, it is caused by several kinds of conditions (e.g. atheroscleosis, atrial fibrillation, heart attack, heart valve abnormalities, etc.). Etiology of ischemic stroke affects prognosis, outcome and management, thus various classification systems for subtyping acute ischemic stroke have been developed. In this study we tried to find any SNP markers which could differentiate the ASO (arteriosclerosis obliterans; large vessel occlusion) type and lacunar type (small deep vessel occlusion) ischemic stroke. We designed three kinds of case-control association studies based on a SNP chip, with 24 ASO stroke patients, 24 lacunar stroke patients, and 48 healthy controls as below; (1) all 48 (ASO+lacunar) stroke patients vs. 48 controls, (2) 24 ASO stroke patients vs. 48 controls, (3) 24 lacuanr stroke patients vs. 48 controls. We found that the ASO stroke and lacunar stroke are genetically different. Each stroke seems to have its own associated SNP markers.