Gene Fingerprint Points Out Dangerous Plaques

By Crystal Phend, Senior Staff Writer, MedPage Today Published: August 04, 2011 Reviewed by Robert Jasmer, MD; Associate Clinical Professor of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco. Action Points   Explain that a genetic signature might pinpoint arterial plaques that are prone to cause strokes. Point out that a profile of above average expression of five microRNA segments characterized about three-quarters of the stroke patients whereas traditional risk factors didn't differ from asymptomatic cases. Note that the results could not prove a causal role of the microRNA signature in plaque destabilization. A genetic signature might pinpoint arterial plaques that are prone to cause strokes, Italian researchers found. Carotid atherosclerosis in ischemic stroke patients expressed higher levels of five microRNA segments compared with asymptomatic cases, Francesco Cipollone, MD, of "G. d'Annunzio" University in Chieti, Italy, and colleagues reported. A profile of above average expression of the microRNAs characterized about three-quarters of the stroke patients whereas traditional risk factors didn't differ from asymptomatic cases, they reported online in Stroke: Journal of the American Heart Association. Thus, this profile might pick out unstable plaques to identify patients at risk for ischemic events while also presenting a way to treat them, Cipollone's group suggested./.../