Assessment of Haptoglobin Gene Polymorphism in cryptogenic Ischemic Stroke in West African Patients

Introduction: For a long time, it was assumed that stroke only affected people aged over 60, but recent studies have shown that it can occur in younger people. In the latter group, molecular factors and inter-individual differences in susceptibility are being increasingly incriminated. The aim of our study was therefore to evaluate the haptoglobin gene polymorphism in subjects with cryptogenic ischemic stroke.

Methodology: This was a prospective case-control study and included subjects with cryptogenic ischemic stroke followed at the neurology department of FANN hospital in Senegal. Healthy controls were recruited and matched with the cases according to sex and age ±2 years. The Hp gene polymorphism was determined using conventional PCR without enzymatic digestion and biochemical parameters were assayed using the Architect ci4100 system (Abott, USA).

Results: Our study included 35 patients with cryptogenic stroke. The mean age of the patients was 45±11 years and the sex ratio was 1:1. Assessment of cardiovascular risk factors showed a high frequency of hypertension (46.57%) followed by dyslipidemia (21.42%) and diabetes (10.71%). Drug use was found in 7.14% of subjects. With regard to haptoglobin genotypes, Hp2-2 was much more prevalent in stroke patients (21.42%) than in control subjects (14.28%). In contrast, the Hp1-1 genotype was more prevalent in control subjects, with a rate of 57.14%, compared with 39.28% for cryptogenic strokes.

Conclusion: Our results seem to show that the Hp2-2 genotype is involved in the occurrence of cryptogenic ischemic stroke. However, the impact of these parameters must be assessed in conjunction with other associated cardiovascular risk factors.