Genetic variants of platelet glycoprotein receptors and risk of stroke in young women

Background and Purpose-A number of studies have examined the relationship b etween genetic platelet glycoprotein variants and early-onset atherothrombo tic disease, particularly acute myocardial infarction. Data on the associat ion of these genetic susceptibility markers with ischemic stroke are more l imited, and their role in hemorrhagic stroke has not been previously examin ed. Methods-We performed genotype analysis for 5 common diallelic platelet glyc oprotein polymorphisms in a population-based study of 78 white women aged < 45 years with arterial stroke (36 ischemic cases and 42 hemorrhagic cases) and 346 demographically similar control subjects. Results-The 807T variant of glycoprotein Ia was associated with a 2-fold in creased risk of ischemic stroke (age-adjusted odds ratio [OR]=2.24; 95% CI= 0.99 to 5.06). The Met(145) allele of glycoprotein Iba was associated with a trend toward an increased risk of ischemic stroke that was more pronounce d in the homozygous state (OR=10.36), but the CI is extremely wide because of the small numbers of subjects (95% CI=1.43 to 79.34). Homozygosity for t he Ser(843) allele of the glycoprotein IIb was associated with an approxima te to 5-fold increased risk of ischemic stroke among subgroups of women who carried a diagnosis of hypertension of diabetes (OR=4.51; 95% CI=1.01 to 2 0.13) or had elevated plasma homocysteine levels (OR=5.94; 95% CI=1.53 to 2 3.05). The genotype distributions for all 5 platelet glycoprotein polymorph isms were similar among hemorrhagic stroke cases and controls. Conclusions-Several inherited platelet glycoprotein variants may be associa ted with an increased risk of ischemic stroke in young women. These associa tions seemed to be confined to women with other cardiovascular risk factors . Additional studies involving larger numbers of subjects are needed to con firm these preliminary findings.