Candidate gene polymorphisms do not differ between newborns with stroke and normal controls.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Neonatal stroke is increasingly recognized with an estimated incidence of one in 4000 live births per year. Pathways involved in the pathophysiology of neonatal stroke are diverse and may include thrombosis and thrombolysis, vascular reactivity, and inflammation. METHODS We compared frequencies of polymorphisms in genes regulating thrombosis and thrombolysis, nitric oxide, cytokines, vascular tone, and cell adhesion in a hospital-based cohort of 59 newborns with stroke relative to a random sample of 437 California newborns. RESULTS Of the 31 polymorphisms evaluated, no variant allele was significantly more common than the reference allele in newborns with stroke than in the general population. CONCLUSIONS Using a series of polymorphisms in pathways implicated in the etiology of stroke, newborns with stroke were not distinguished from a normal control group. Further studies are needed to determine the interaction of genetic polymorphisms with environmental risk factors in the pathogenesis of neonatal stroke.