British scientists have found a new gene linked to a common cause of stroke, it was announced last night.
The genetic variation affects as many as ten per cent of people and increases the risk of a blockage of the main arteries to the brain, according to a report in Nature Genetics.
The gene, HDAC9, is known to play a role in muscle and heart development and drugs already exist which could control it.
Researcher Professor Hugh Markus, from St George’s, University of London, said: "This discovery identifies a completely new mechanism for causing stroke.
"The next step is to determine in more detail the relationship between HDAC9 and stroke and see whether we can develop new treatments that reduce the risk of stroke."
He added: "It is important that we understand the mechanism involved before trialling the effects of these drugs on stroke."
The findings, which also involved Oxford University and the Wellcome Trust, come from comparing some 10,000 stroke patients with 40,000 healthy people.
Fellow researcher Professor Peter Donnelly, from Oxford, said the research indicated potentially different genetic causes for different kinds of stroke.
He said: "This is really fascinating, and if it holds up more generally, will move us closer to personalised medicine, where treatments and preventions can be tailored more precisely to individual patients."
Dr Peter Coleman, of the Stroke Association, said: "Further study is needed, but this research could potentially lead to new methods of screening and prevention for large vessel stroke, and ultimately, new methods of treatment."
Genome-wide association study identifies a variant in HDAC9 associated with large vessel ischemic stroke. Nature Genetics February 5 2012
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