The study published in the Nature Journal revealed 61 new genetic regions associated with stroke that are potential drug targets to prevent or treat the second leading cause of death worldwide. In the study, data from 2.5 million people from five different ancestries, more than 200,000 of whom had a stroke, was analyzed by the members of the GIGASTROKE consortium.

The consortium included Professor Dr. Kameshwar Prasad, former head of the department of Neurology at the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Delhi, who stated that the population studied in the research has a fairly global representation, including South Asia, which includes India and Pakistan, Africa, East Asia, Europe, and Latin America. He further added that the combined results from different ancestries and regions made things clearer at a micro level.

The study included 110,182 patients who had a stroke and 1,503,898 participants as control individuals. Based on the participant data, the team identified association signals for stroke and its subtypes at 89 (61 new) independent gene loci. During a follow-up including 89,084 additional cases of stroke and 1,013,843 control individuals, it was seen that 87% of the primary stroke risk regions and 60% of the secondary stroke risk regions were replicated.

The findings of the study highlighted the F11, KLKB1, PROC, GP1BA, LAMC2, and VCAM1 regions as possible targets, with drugs already under investigation for stroke in the F11 and PROC regions. They also found that the frequency of a genetic region called COBL was higher in people suffering from neurological disorders in India and Pakistan, while no such frequency of this region was identified in patients from other ancestries. 

(Source: https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/health/over-60-new-genetic-regions-behind-stroke-identified-may-lead-to-new-therapies-438097 )