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Updated: Aug 6, 2026

A Murine Model of Carotid Aneurysm Formation
Published on: September 9, 2025
The versican gene and the risk of intracranial aneurysms
Ynte M Ruigrok1, Gabriël J E Rinkel, Cisca Wijmenga
1Department of Neurology, Rudolf Magnus Institute of Neuroscience, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands. ij.m.ruigrok@neuro.azu.nl
Background And Purpose:
The proteoglycan versican is an excellent candidate gene for intracranial aneurysms (IAs) because it plays an important role in extracellular matrix assembly and is localized in a previously implicated locus for IAs on chromosome 5q.
Methods:
We analyzed all the common variations using 16-tag single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and haplotypes in the versican gene using a 2-stage genotyping approach. For stage 1, 16 SNPs were genotyped in 307 cases and 639 controls. For stage 2, the two SNPs yielding the most significant associations (P<0.01) were genotyped in a second independent cohort of 310 cases for confirmation of the associations.
Results:
In stage 1, we found several SNPs in strong linkage disequilibrium and haplotypes constituting these SNPs associated with IAs in the Dutch population (strongest SNP association for rs173686 with odds ratio=1.34, 95% CI=1.09 to 1.65, P=0.004). In stage 2, we confirmed association for the 2 SNPs with the most significant associations (strongest SNP association for rs173686 with odds ratio=1.36, 95% CI=1.11 to 1.67, P=0.003).
Conclusions:
SNPs in strong linkage disequilibrium and haplotypes constituting these SNPs in the versican gene are associated with IAs suggesting that variation in or near the versican gene plays a role in susceptibility to IAs.
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