Bulletin No. 2, 2014

40   Chinese University Bulletin No. 2, 2014 Novel Gene Mutation Causing Spinocerebellar Ataxia Identified A multi-disciplinary re s earch team l ed by Prof. H.Y. Edwin Chan (2nd lef t) of the School of L ife Sciences has identified a n o v e l g e n e t i c mutation that leads to spinocerebellar ataxia ( S C A ) . T h e t e am star ted their study in 2011. By means of next-generation sequencing, they first tracked down candidate disease- causing polymorphisms in the patients’ genomes. They then confined the SCA mutation to the coiled-coil domain containing the 88C (CCDC88C) gene. The work has been published in the Journal of Medical Genetics . The Human Genome Organization Gene Nomenclature Committee also approved the use of ‘SCA40’ to describe this new type of SCA. This important finding has put Hong Kong on the world map of SCA research, and also shed new light on finding therapeutic directions. New Anticoagulant More Effective in Stroke Prevention for Asian Patients with Atrial Fibrillation A r e s e a r c h l e d b y Prof. Lawrence K.S. Wo n g ( l e f t ) , Mo k Hing Y iu Profes sor o f M e d i c i n e a n d Chief of Neurology, revealed that the new oral anticoagulant, Rivaroxaban, could reduce the risk of stroke by 32% among Asian patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) but only 11% in non-Asians. It is also more effective than the traditional Warfarin in stroke prevention. Professor Wong studied the data of 932 Asian patients from mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and South Korea participating in the international large- scale study, ROCKET AF, which involved a total of 14,262 AF patients from 45 countries worldwide. In his study, half of the patients were treated with Rivaroxaban, and the rest were prescribed Warfarin. The results were then compared to those of non-Asian patients. Research