Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what research is being undertaken on personalised medicine to detect genes that make people more vulnerable to strokes and heart attacks.

The Centre for Cardiovascular Genetics group at University College London has focused on genes coding for key proteins that are involved in lipid and lipoprotein metabolism in the control of thrombosis and haemostasis. The Institute for Cardiovascular and Metabolic research at the University of Reading is investigating mechanisms responsible for the influence of common gene on the cardiovascular phenotype

The University of Cambridge has recently completed the first major study into genetics of lacunar stroke. This type of stroke affects the small blood vessels in the brain and causes 25% of strokes and is the major cause of vascular dementia. The United Kingdom is carrying out a number of projects to look at other genes causing familial stroke including the National Health Service funded 100,000 Genomes project.