Method for diagnosis of unstable atherosclerotic plaques

A prognostic method for determining the probability of a subject suffering from a cerebrovascular disease which comprises

• (i) determining the expression level of at least one gene selected from the group of genes shown in Table 1 or from the group of genes shown in Table 2 in a biological sample from said subject, and
• (ii) comparing the expression level obtained in (i) with a reference value,
• wherein if the at least one gene determined in step (i) is one of genes 1-33 from Table 1 and its expression is increased with respect to the reference value, and/or
• wherein if the at least one gene determined in step (i) is one of genes 1-6 from Table 2 and its expression is increased with respect to the reference value, and/or
• wherein if the at least one gene determined in step (i) is one of genes 34-93 from Table 1 and its expression is reduced with respect to the reference value, and/or
• wherein if the at least one gene determined in step (i) is one of genes 7-11 from Table 2 and its expression is reduced with respect to the reference value,
• then the subject has a high probability of suffering from a cerebrovascular disease.

A method for selecting a patient susceptible to being treated with a therapy for removing or stabilizing the carotid atherosclerotic plaque which comprises:

• (i) determining the expression level of at least one gene selected from the group of genes shown in Table 1 or from the group of genes shown in Table 2 in a biological sample from said subject, and
• (ii) comparing the expression level obtained in (i) with a reference value,
• wherein if the at least one gene determined in step (i) is one of genes 1-33 from Table 1 and its expression is increased with respect to the reference value, and/or
• wherein if the at least one gene determined in step (i) is one of genes 1-6 from Table 2 and its expression is increased with respect to the reference value, and/or
• wherein if the at least one gene determined in step (i) is one of genes 34-93 from Table 1 and its expression is reduced with respect to the reference value, and/or
• wherein if the at least one gene determined in step (i) is one of genes 7-11 from Table 2 and its expression is reduced with respect to the reference value,
• then the subject is susceptible to being treated for removing or stabilizing the carotid atherosclerotic plaque.