Recruitment Latest: 31 Pairs have been recruited so far.
Welcome to Devon and Exeter Hospital who are the latest site to come on board with this study.
Thank you to Dr Martin James, Sophie Abernathy and Leigh Barron for all your efforts getting this going.
Please contact us if you would like to help recruit into this study
1. To build up an affected sib pair DNA database from patients with ischaemic stroke which can be used to look for novel genes.
2. To determine the extent of phenotypic heterogeneity between affected sib pairs with ischaemic stroke.
Genetic factors appear to be important in the pathogenesis of ischaemic stroke, but many of these factors remain to be determined. Such studies will require large scale DNA resources. Collecting affected siblings with ischaemic stroke allows linkage analysis to be performed to look for novel genetic predispositions. We plan to build a UK-wide affected sibling stroke pair database. This will be used, in close collaboration with a similar database being establishes in the USA (SWISS study). Combining the two resources will greatly improve our chances of identifying stroke genes.
Patients under the age of 70 years with ischaemic stroke who have an affected sibling with ischaemic stroke. Patients with single gene disorders such as CADASIL, sickle cell disease and familial prothrombotic disorders are excluded.
In families with large sibships and where parents are alive, we will also collect blood from discordant (unaffected) sibs and parents.
DNA blood sample is taken from index case and sent to St George's for analysis.
A copy of the patient's relevant casenotes must also be sent so that the stroke type can be established.
The index case is then given letters to send on to their affected and non-affected siblings. When consent is returned from the siblings a blood collection is arranged at the nearest participating hospital.
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