Approved Research

Impact of genetic and non-genetic modifiers to the stroke susceptibility in the large-scaled multi-ethnic populations

Lay summary

1) Background, Scientific rationale, and Aim

Since stroke is related with a high possibility of death in the aging society and is occurred in a broad range of adult ages, it is important to prevent a risk of stroke and fulfill a personalized healthcare in advance. Previous studies have identified traditional elements such as high blood pressure, obesity, and lipid levels increasing a risk of stroke. Commonly, a human complex phenotype tends to be affected by multiple genes (so called "polygenic effect"). In other hand, one gene can affect various phenotypes such as stroke, diabetes, hypertension, and other traits at the same time, which means a "pleiotropic effect". Stroke is the one of common and complex diseases affected by multiple genes; and these genes also can impact on multiple traits. Genetic and environment factors should be treated simultaneously for understanding stroke and constructing of prediction and prevention models. Hence, we aim to evaluate genetic, environment, and lifestyle risk factors that impact on stroke and its-related traits in UK Biobank subjects.

2) Duration of project

This project is expected to last at least 3 years and extendable after then.

3) Public health impact of this work

For strokes, prevention is the best medicine, whether the intervention is at the clinical or community level. This study therefore contributes to the personalized precision medicine by providing insights into the genetic and non-genetic risk factors of stroke and its-related traits. Personalized disease-risk prediction can reflect better information and diagnosis to resolve a burden of healthcare issue including therapeutic treatments and lifetime cost of developing stroke. Also, our project will provide a guideline for more effectively deliver high-quality preventive services.