In a new study from Mount Sinai, researchers found the most critical genes that cause coronary heart disease and trigger heart attacks.
The results pave the way for a whole new field of targeted therapies for those at risk of coronary heart disease—the world’s biggest killer.
The study achieved three major breakthroughs, all of which were of key importance in the fight against heart disease.
Firstly, researchers have now more accurately defined the precise genes that are likely to cause coronary heart disease.
Second, they have identified exactly where in the body the main effect of those genes is—it might be in the heart arteries themselves that directly cause blockages, or perhaps the effect is in the liver to increase cholesterol levels, or in the blood to change inflammation.
The third major achievement was to rank those genes—162 in total—in order of priority for causing coronary heart disease.
In the study, the team tested 600 patients who had coronary heart disease and another 150 without coronary heart disease.
All underwent open chest surgery for coronary heart artery bypass surgery or other medically indicated reasons.
The team used Mount Sinai’s supercomputer—called “Minerva”—to crunch the numbers, analyze data and collate information from thousands of genes.
They hope the findings will invigorate research in the area and will lead to a whole new field of critical work related to heart attacks.
Another benefit to patients may be improved genetic testing.
The current genetic tests that screen for people at risk of coronary heart disease look at hundreds, if not thousands of genes.
This refined and prioritized gene list in this study opens up many new possibilities in terms of more accurate genetic testing, as well as better understanding what causes heart attack and developing targeted therapies for many of the new gene targets.
If you care about heart attacks, please read studies that new toothpaste could identify plaque, may help prevent heart attack, stroke, and these two things may help you avoid heart attacks.
For more information about heart health, please see recent studies about a common cause of high blood pressure, heart attacks, diabetes, and results showing how to make the healthiest coffee to reduce heart attack risk.
The study is published in Circulation: Genomic and Precision Medicine and was conducted by Professor Jason Kovacic et al.
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