Prospective Multicenter Study on the Identification of Genetic Abnormalities Predisposing to Vasospasm From a Privileged Model: the Primary Raynaud's Phenomenon

Vasospasm is a transient contraction causing a decrease in caliber of a vessel and thus a decrease in vascularization in a vascular territory leading to suffering of tissue in the sector concerned. Vasospasm-related diseases have different clinical presentations such as migraine, spastic angina, hypertension related to vasospasm or primary Raynaud's phenomenon (RP). These diseases have few therapeutic methods due to poorly understood pathophysiology. For migraine and angina, the vascular exploration is problematic unlike for primary Raynaud's phenomenon (RP). Primary Raynaud's phenomenon (RP) is a common peripheral vascular disease to cold with an estimated prevalence between 5-9 % of the general population. It is the expression of an extreme vasospasm microcirculation of the extremities linked to hypersensitivity to cold and that is clinically expressed by the occurrence of syncope stages where the fingers are anesthetized and white, followed by a stage with hyperemic restaining . The objective of our study is to identify new metabolic pathways involved in vasospasm in order to consider new specific treatments, currently lacking. The identification of these pathways will be made by the detection of genetic abnormalities causing vasospasm in Raynaud's phenomenon. This disease is a perfectly appropriate model to study vasospasm by its high frequency in the population, its hereditary nature and simple diagnosis. The powerful current genetic strategies will be applied to this model (exome sequencing combined to family connection analysis).