Series SOX17 genes can cause the bulge or balloon in the artery wall (aneurysm) in the brain. Aneurysms develop when blood vessels in the brain to swell and weaken the arterial wall.
If a person has swelling or rupture of blood vessels so the ends could be the most fatal stroke or death.
Scientists from Yale University have analyzed the entire genetic code or genome of 20,000 volunteers. The result of this discovery can identify and avoid people at risk have the deadly condition.
Aneurysms are swellings or something prominent in the arterial wall, while on duty arteries carry oxygen-rich blood from the heart to other parts of the body.
If the aneurysm expands, so one day can rupture and cause severe bleeding, strokes and even death.
Most occurred in the aortic aneurysm, which is the main artery that travels from the heart through the chest and abdomen. But the aneurysm can also occur in arteries in the brain, heart and other body parts.
Aneurysms can develop and become great without any symptoms appear. If these conditions can be found at an early stage and promptly handled properly, then the rupture of blood vessels could be prevented or stopped. The main treatment for the condition of aneurism is through drugs and surgery.
In their study, scientists found three new genetic variants that can increase the risk of someone infected aneurysm. Certain variants, such as SOX17 could increase the risk of someone affected by this disease.
These findings could lead doctors to perform examinations (screening) to identify early on some people who are vulnerable or at risk of contracting this disease.
"These findings provide new insights about the causes of intracranial aneurysm and also be an important step to the front in the development of diagnostic tests that can identify high-risk people before symptoms appear," said Professor Murat Gunel, the senior author in this study, as quoted from the Telegraph, Wednesday ( 7/4/2010).
People who have these genetic codes have affected 5-7 times greater aneurism. Until now estimated at about 500,000 people suffered aneurism worldwide each year. The results of this study have been published in the journal Nature Genetics.
"These results explain approximately 10 percent of people are genetically at risk aneurism. But this is also just explain about 10 percent of everything we know, thus still needed long time to understand it more deeply," said Prof. Gunel.
