Prevalence of RNF213 p.R4810K Variant in Early-Onset Stroke With Intracranial Arterial Stenosis

Background and Purpose— The ring finger protein 213 gene (RNF213 ) is a susceptibility gene for moyamoya disease and large-artery ischemic stroke in East Asia. We examined the prevalence and correlates of theRNF213 p.R4810K variant in patients with early-onset ischemic stroke in a Japanese single-center cohort.Methods— We analyzed 70 early-onset stroke patients with intracranial arterial stenosis who developed a noncardioembolic stroke or transient ischemic attack from 20 to 60 years of age. Patients with moyamoya disease were excluded. Results— TheRNF213 p.R4810K variant was found in 17 patients (24%), and more often in women than men (38% versus 16%, odds ratio 3.3; 95% CI, 1.1–10.2,P =0.04). The variant was identified in 35% of patients with stenosis in the M1 segment of the middle cerebral artery or the A1 segment of the anterior cerebral artery (odds ratio, 25.0; 95% CI, 1.4–438;P <0.01) but in only one patient (9%) with intracranial posterior circulation stenosis. Conventional atherosclerotic risk factors did not differ between variant carriers and noncarriers.Conclusions— TheRNF213 p.R4810K variant is common in early-onset ischemic stroke with anterior circulation stenosis in Japan. Further investigation of theRNF213 gene will provide new insights into pathogenetic mechanisms of early-onset stroke.