RAre, But Not aLone: a Large Italian Network to Empower the Impervious diaGNostic Pathway of Rare cerEbrovascular Diseases (ALIGNED) (ALIGNED)

Cerebrovascular diseases (CVDs) are one leading cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Despite intensive investigations, more than 30% of strokes remain of undetermined origin. Rare Cerebrovascular Diseases (rCVDs), including heritable (i.e., CADASIL, COL4A1 syndrome, Fabry disease) and acquired conditions (i.e., Sneddon syndrome, Moyamoya arteriopathy) account for a proportion of these strokes. However, rCVDs are often misdiagnosed since clinicians are not able to recognize them. Although rare, the identification of these stroke causes is important to establish appropriate management measures, including genetic counselling, and, if available, therapy. The lack of data on phenotype and clinical course of rCVDs, given the paucity of published series, makes the diagnosis and the development of therapies challenging. Furthermore, the molecular characterization of rCVDs is still lacking, despite progresses achieved in common stroke by applying high throughput approaches as multi-omics. Since the diagnosis and care of rCVDs require adequate expertise and instrumental tools, clinical and research activities are usually reserved to few specialized centers, mostly located in the North of Italy, leading patients to expensive trips for consultations. Therefore, the creation of a clinical and research network aimed at improving the diagnostic pathways of rCVDs is highly needed to improve the number of patients with rCVDs to better define the clinical phenotype and to transfer the knowledge on rCVDs in other centers overall Italy filling the geographical gap affecting Southern Italy.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Fabry Disease; CADASIL; Moyamoya; Moya Moya Disease; CADASIL (Diagnosis); Sneddon Syndrome; Moyamoya Syndrome; COL4A1\2

• Study Type: Observational
• Enrollment (Actual): 500

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• Italy
  • Cesena, Italy
    • UO Neurologia degli Ospedali di Cesena e Forlì, Ospedale Bufalini Cesena ed Ospedale Morgagni-Pierantoni (Ausl della Romagna)
  • Cremona, Italy
    • ASST di Cremona
  • Frosinone, Italy
    • Ospedale "Spaziani" di Frosinone
  • La Spezia, Italy
    • U.O. Neurologia, Ospedale Sant'Andrea, La Spezia
  • Milan, Italy
    • Asst Grande Ospedale Metropolitano Niguarda
  • Milan, Italy
    • Fondazione IRCCS Istituto Neurologico Carlo Besta
  • Milan, Italy
    • Ospedale Luigi Sacco, ASST Fatebenefratelli Sacco
  • Milan, Italy
    • Stroke Unit Fondazione IRCCS Ca' Granda Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico di Milano
  • Pavia, Italy
    • IRCCS Policlinico San Matteo, Pavia
  • Pescara, Italy
    • Neurologia d'Urgenza e Stroke Unit dell'Ospedale di Pescara
  • Roma, Italy
    • Neurologia dell'Ospedale Sandro Pertini - ASL Roma2
  • Roma, Italy
    • Policlinico Tor Vergata, UOSD Stroke Unit
  • Savona, Italy
    • Neurologia PO Levante Asl 2 Savonese
  • BA
    • Acquaviva delle Fonti, BA, Italy
      • Ospedale Regionale Generale "F. Miulli", Acquaviva delle Fonti
  • MI
    • Melegnano, MI, Italy
      • ASST Melegnano Martesana
  • Mi
    • Rho, Mi, Italy
      • Neurologia Stroke Unit dell'Asst Rhodense
  • PA
    • Cefalù, PA, Italy
      • Fondazione Istituto G. Giglio, Cefalù

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: Adult; Older Adult
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

• Sampling Method: Non-Probability Sample

Study Population

Adults, male and female patients affected by a Rare Cerebrovascular Disease (rCVD)

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• patients with a clinical, genetic and/or neuroradiological diagnosis of rCVD (CADASIL, Fabry's disease, COL4A1, Sneddon's syndrome or Moyamoya arteriopathy), who have had at least one brain MRI study;

Exclusion Criteria:

• na

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Describe the phenotypic characteristics of rCVD patients	To describe the phenotypic characteristics of rCVD patients. All patients will complete a standardized neurological assessment consisting of anamnestic data collection (family history of neurological pathology, and in particular of rCVD, cardiovascular risk factors, medications taken, comorbidities, recent or previous head injuries) and a complete physical examination.	0-12 months
Assess the natural history of disease	To develop a new, unique, and large registry on rCVDs recruiting a large number of patients (500) , patients will be recruited by all the participating clinical centers	0-12 months

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Identify the molecular mechanisms	Identify the molecular mechanisms underlying rCVD, targeted/quantitative approaches will validate the emerged key molecular features (e.g by transcriptomic, proteomic, metabolomic, and lipidomic approaches).	12-30 months
Identify biomarkers	Identify reliable and usable circulating biomarkers for the diagnosis of rCVD by applying mass spectrometry-based cutting-edge technologies for an unbiased identification of differentially abundant candidates (e.g. proteins or metabolites), and for their validation and simultaneous assessment in multi-marker panels	12-30 months
Provide the best clinical and therapeutic management	Implement the virtual multi-specialty and multicenter rCVD case-sharing model in order to provide the best clinical and therapeutic management of the patients taken in. A team of specialists with expertise in each rCVD, comprising neurologists, neurosurgeons, neuro-radiologists, interventional radiologists, neuropsychiatrists, geneticists, neurophysiologists and/or psychologists, will schedule virtual monthly meetings to discuss the diagnosis and provide individual patients with the best diagnostic and management paths. A specific platform for second opinion consultations will be created by using the existing telemedicine platform.	12-30 months

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Fondazione I.R.C.C.S. Istituto Neurologico Carlo Besta

Publications and helpful links

General Publications

• Sacco S, Marini C, Toni D, Olivieri L, Carolei A. Incidence and 10-year survival of intracerebral hemorrhage in a population-based registry. Stroke. 2009 Feb;40(2):394-9. doi: 10.1161/STROKEAHA.108.523209. Epub 2008 Nov 26.
• Caponnetto V, Ornello R, De Matteis E, Papavero SC, Fracasso A, Di Vito G, Lancia L, Ferrara FM, Sacco S. The COVID-19 Pandemic as an Opportunity to Improve Health Care Through a Nurse-Coordinated Multidisciplinary Model in a Headache Specialist Center: The Implementation of a Telemedicine Protocol. Telemed J E Health. 2022 Jul;28(7):1016-1022. doi: 10.1089/tmj.2021.0414. Epub 2021 Nov 9.
• Banfi C, Baetta R, Barbieri SS, Brioschi M, Guarino A, Ghilardi S, Sandrini L, Eligini S, Polvani G, Bergman O, Eriksson P, Tremoli E. Prenylcysteine oxidase 1, an emerging player in atherosclerosis. Commun Biol. 2021 Sep 21;4(1):1109. doi: 10.1038/s42003-021-02630-z.
• Degan D, Ornello R, Tiseo C, De Santis F, Pistoia F, Carolei A, Sacco S. Epidemiology of Transient Ischemic Attacks Using Time- or Tissue-Based Definitions: A Population-Based Study. Stroke. 2017 Mar;48(3):530-536. doi: 10.1161/STROKEAHA.116.015417. Epub 2017 Jan 31.
• Romani I, Nencini P, Sarti C, Pracucci G, Zedde M, Nucera A, Cianci V, Moller J, Toni D, Orsucci D, Casella C, Pinto V, Palumbo P, Barbarini L, Bella R, Ragno M, Scoditti U, Mezzapesa DM, Tassi R, Diomedi M, Cavallini A, Volpi G, Chiti A, Bigliardi G, Sacco S, Linoli G, Ricci S, Giordano A, Bonetti B, Rasura M, Cecconi E, Princiotta Cariddi L, Curro Dossi R, Melis M, Consoli D, Guidetti D, Biagini S, Accavone D, Inzitari D. Fabry-Stroke Italian Registry (FSIR): a nationwide, prospective, observational study about incidence and characteristics of Fabry-related stroke in young-adults. Presentation of the study protocol. Neurol Sci. 2022 Apr;43(4):2433-2439. doi: 10.1007/s10072-021-05615-2. Epub 2021 Oct 5.
• Bersano A, Markus HS, Quaglini S, Arbustini E, Lanfranconi S, Micieli G, Boncoraglio GB, Taroni F, Gellera C, Baratta S, Penco S, Mosca L, Grasso M, Carrera P, Ferrari M, Cereda C, Grieco G, Corti S, Ronchi D, Bassi MT, Obici L, Parati EA, Pezzini A, De Lodovici ML, Verrengia EP, Bono G, Mazucchelli F, Zarcone D, Calloni MV, Perrone P, Bordo BM, Colombo A, Padovani A, Cavallini A, Beretta S, Ferrarese C, Motto C, Agostoni E, Molini G, Sasanelli F, Corato M, Marcheselli S, Sessa M, Comi G, Checcarelli N, Guidotti M, Uccellini D, Capitani E, Tancredi L, Arnaboldi M, Incorvaia B, Tadeo CS, Fusi L, Grampa G, Merlini G, Trobia N, Comi GP, Braga M, Vitali P, Baron P, Grond-Ginsbach C, Candelise L; Lombardia GENS Group*. Clinical Pregenetic Screening for Stroke Monogenic Diseases: Results From Lombardia GENS Registry. Stroke. 2016 Jul;47(7):1702-9. doi: 10.1161/STROKEAHA.115.012281. Epub 2016 May 31.
• Bersano A, Bedini G, Markus HS, Vitali P, Colli-Tibaldi E, Taroni F, Gellera C, Baratta S, Mosca L, Carrera P, Ferrari M, Cereda C, Grieco G, Lanfranconi S, Mazucchelli F, Zarcone D, De Lodovici ML, Bono G, Boncoraglio GB, Parati EA, Calloni MV, Perrone P, Bordo BM, Motto C, Agostoni E, Pezzini A, Padovani A, Micieli G, Cavallini A, Molini G, Sasanelli F, Sessa M, Comi G, Checcarelli N, Carmerlingo M, Corato M, Marcheselli S, Fusi L, Grampa G, Uccellini D, Beretta S, Ferrarese C, Incorvaia B, Tadeo CS, Adobbati L, Silani V, Farago G, Trobia N, Grond-Ginsbach C, Candelise L; Lombardia GENS-group. The role of clinical and neuroimaging features in the diagnosis of CADASIL. J Neurol. 2018 Dec;265(12):2934-2943. doi: 10.1007/s00415-018-9072-8. Epub 2018 Oct 11.
• Bersano A, Bedini G, Nava S, Acerbi F, Sebastiano DR, Binelli S, Franceschetti S, Farago G, Grisoli M, Gioppo A, Ferroli P, Bruzzone MG, Riva D, Ciceri E, Pantaleoni C, Saletti V, Esposito S, Nardocci N, Zibordi F, Caputi L, Marzoli SB, Zedde ML, Pavanello M, Raso A, Capra V, Pantoni L, Sarti C, Pezzini A, Caria F, Dell' Acqua ML, Zini A, Baracchini C, Farina F, Sanguigni S, De Lodovici ML, Bono G, Capone F, Di Lazzaro V, Lanfranconi S, Toscano M, Di Piero V, Sacco S, Carolei A, Toni D, Paciaroni M, Caso V, Perrone P, Calloni MV, Romani A, Cenzato M, Fratianni A, Ciusani E, Prontera P, Lasserve ET, Blecharz K, Vajkoczy P, Parati EA; GEN-O-MA study group. GEN-O-MA project: an Italian network studying clinical course and pathogenic pathways of moyamoya disease-study protocol and preliminary results. Neurol Sci. 2019 Mar;40(3):561-570. doi: 10.1007/s10072-018-3664-z. Epub 2019 Jan 3.
• Bersano A, Morbin M, Ciceri E, Bedini G, Berlit P, Herold M, Saccucci S, Fugnanesi V, Nordmeyer H, Farago G, Savoiardo M, Taroni F, Carriero M, Boncoraglio Giorgio B, Perucca L, Caputi L, Parati Eugenio A, Kraemer M. The diagnostic challenge of Divry van Bogaert and Sneddon Syndrome: Report of three cases and literature review. J Neurol Sci. 2016 May 15;364:77-83. doi: 10.1016/j.jns.2016.03.011. Epub 2016 Mar 5.
• Panara V, Navarra R, Mattei PA, Piccirilli E, Bartoletti V, Uncini A, Caulo M. Correlations between cervical spinal cord magnetic resonance diffusion tensor and diffusion kurtosis imaging metrics and motor performance in patients with chronic ischemic brain lesions of the corticospinal tract. Neuroradiology. 2019 Feb;61(2):175-182. doi: 10.1007/s00234-018-2139-5. Epub 2018 Dec 5.

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): May 1, 2023
• Primary Completion (Actual): May 19, 2026
• Study Completion (Actual): May 19, 2026

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: April 2, 2025
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: April 11, 2025
• First Posted (Actual): April 20, 2025

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): September 1, 2026
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: August 31, 2026
• Last Verified: August 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: Fabry Disease; CADASIL; Rare Cerebrovascular Diseases; italian network; COL4A1 syndrome; Sneddon Syndrome; Moyamoya arteriopathy; COL4A1/2
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Cerebrovascular Disorders; Brain Diseases; Central Nervous System Diseases; Nervous System Diseases; Vascular Diseases; Cardiovascular Diseases; Pathologic Processes; Metabolism, Inborn Errors; Genetic Diseases, Inborn; Metabolic Diseases; Brain Infarction; Brain Ischemia; Infarction; Necrosis; Dementia; Skin Diseases; Skin Diseases, Vascular; Lipid Metabolism Disorders; Genetic Diseases, X-Linked; Lysosomal Storage Diseases; Brain Diseases, Metabolic, Inborn; Brain Diseases, Metabolic; Arterial Occlusive Diseases; Ischemia; Lipid Metabolism, Inborn Errors; Intracranial Arterial Diseases; Stroke; Carotid Artery Diseases; Cerebral Arterial Diseases; Lysosomal Storage Diseases, Nervous System; Cerebral Infarction; Cerebral Small Vessel Diseases; Dementia, Vascular; Sphingolipidoses; Lipidoses; Congenital, Hereditary, and Neonatal Diseases and Abnormalities; Pathological Conditions, Signs and Symptoms; Nutritional and Metabolic Diseases; Skin and Connective Tissue Diseases; Disease; Moyamoya Disease; CADASIL; Fabry Disease; Sneddon Syndrome
• Other Study ID Numbers: ALIGNED

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: NO

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No
• product manufactured in and exported from the U.S.: No