Variants of the elastin ( ELN ) gene and susceptibility to intracranial aneurysm: a synthesis of genetic association studies using a genetic model-free approach.

Background: The presence of an intracranial aneurysm (IA) is thought to have a genetic origin. The genetic association studies (GAS) that investigated the association between IA and elastin gene (ELN) variants have produced contradictory or inconclusive results.Materials and methods: In order to decrease the uncertainty of estimated genetic risk effects, a meta-analysis of published GAS-related variants in theELNgene (ELNINT20 1315T > C, EX20 1264G > A, INT23 1501 + 24T > C and INT4 196 + 71G > A) with susceptibility to IA was conducted using a genetic model-free approach. The risk effects were estimated using the generalized odds ratio (ORG) metric.Results: The analysis showed significant association for the INT20 1315T > C variant [ORG = 0.66 (0.45–0.95)], indicating a protection effect. For the variants EX20 1264G > A, INT23 1501 + 24T > C and INT4 196 + 71G > A, no statistically significant association with IAs was found.Conclusion: There is evidence that theELNvariant INT20 1315T > C is implicated in the development of IA; however, the results should be interpreted with caution since the number of published studies is limited. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]