Genetic risk factors for intracranial aneurysms

Abstract

A meta-analysis in more than 116,000 individuals ABSTRACT Objective: There is an urgent need to identify risk factors for sporadic intracranial aneurysm (IA) devel-opment and rupture. A genetic component has long been recognized, but firm conclusions have been elusive given the generally small sample sizes and lack of replication. Genome-wide association studies have overcome some limitations, but the number of robust genetic risk factors for IA remains uncertain. Methods: We conducted a comprehensive systematic review and meta-analysis of all genetic association studies (including genome-wide association studies) of sporadic IA, conducted ac-cording to Strengthening the Reporting of Genetic Association Studies and Human Genome Epi-demiology Network guidelines. We tested the robustness of associations using random-effects and sensitivity analyses. Results: Sixty-one studies including 32,887 IA cases and 83,683 controls were included. We identified 19 single nucleotide polymorphisms associated with IA. The strongest associations, robust to sensitivity analyses for statistical heterogeneity and ethnicity, were found for the fol-lowing single nucleotide polymorphisms: on chromosome 9 within the cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor 2B antisense inhibitor gene (rs10757278: odds ratio [OR] 1.29; 95% confidence inter-val [CI] 1.21–1.38; and rs1333040: OR 1.24; 95% CI 1.20–1.29), on chromosome 8 near the SOX17 transcription regulator gene (rs9298506: OR 1.21; 95% CI 1.15–1.27; and rs10958409: OR 1.19; 95% CI 1.13–1.26), and on chromosome 4 near the endothelin receptor A gene (rs6841581: OR 1.22; 95% CI 1.14–1.31).