Genetic Variability in the Iron Homeostasis Pathway and Patient Outcomes After Aneurysmal Subarachnoid Hemorrhage

Iron can be detrimental to most tissues both in excess and in deficiency. The brain in particular is highly susceptible to the consequences of excessive iron, especially during blood brain barrier disruption after injury. Preliminary evidence suggests that iron homeostasis is important during recovery after neurologic injury; therefore, the exploration of genetic variability in genes involved in iron homeostasis is an important area of patient outcomes research. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between tagging single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in candidate genes related to iron homeostasis and acute and long-term patient outcomes after aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage (aSAH).

This study was a longitudinal, observational, candidate gene association study of participants with aSAH that used a two-tier design including tier 1 (discovery, n = 197) and tier 2 (replication, n = 277). Participants were followed during the acute outcome phase for development of cerebral vasospasm and delayed cerebral ischemia (DCI) and during the long-term outcome phase for death and gross functional outcome using the Glasgow Outcome Scale (GOS; poor = 1-3). Genetic association analyses were performed using a logistic regression model adjusted for age, sex, and Fisher grade. Approximate Bayes factors (ABF) and Bayesian false discovery probabilities (BFDP) were used to prioritize and interpret results.

In tier 1, 235 tagging SNPs in 28 candidate genes were available for analysis and 26 associations (20 unique SNPs in 12 genes) were nominated for replication in tier 2. In tier 2, we observed an increase in evidence of association for three associations in the ceruloplasmin (CP) and cubilin (CUBN) genes. We observed an association of rs17838831 (CP) with GOS at 3 months (tier 2 results, odds ratio [OR] = 2.10, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.14-3.86, p = 0.018, ABF = 0.52, and BFDP = 70.8%) and GOS at 12 months (tier 2 results, OR = 1.86, 95% CI 0.98-3.52, p = 0.058, ABF = 0.72, and BFDP = 77.3%) as well as rs10904850 (CUBN) with DCI (tier 2 results, OR = 0.70, 95% CI 0.48-1.02, p = 0.064, ABF = 0.59, and BFDP = 71.8%).

Among the genes examined, our findings support a role for CP and CUBN in patient outcomes after aSAH. In an effort to translate these findings into clinical utility and improve outcomes after aSAH, additional research is needed to examine the functional roles of these genes after aSAH.