New hope in the prevention of cardiovascular illnesses. People with a specific mutation in a gene have a 50% lower risk of suffering from a infarction, according to a study led by professor of cardiology Heribert Schunkert, of the Technical University of Munich (Germany) and published in the New England Journal of Medicine.
Less lipids in the blood
To reach these conclusions, the scientists analyzed 13,000 different genes in 200,000 participants, whether or not they had had heart attacks, looking for a link between the mutation and cardiovascular disease. Among the genes involved, a mutation which makes the ANGPTL4 gene ineffective appears to be linked to an exceptionally low level of certain lipids (triglycerides) in the blood. However, the lower the blood levels of these lipids, the lower the risk of developing cardiovascular disease.
A treatment that “turns off” this gene
Luckily, this mutation not only decreases the risk of heart disease, but it also doesn’t seem to affect other body functions. “We found out that the body doesn’t even need the ANGPTL4 gene and is doing just fine without it. It seems to be superfluous“explains in a university press releasegenomics professor Jeannette Erdmann, co-author of the study. Scientists therefore plan to be able to “turn off” this gene to protect against coronary heart disease. “This discovery considerably facilitates the development of new treatments that stimulate the effect of this mutation.“Confides Professor Schunkert. Such drugs drastically reducing the activity of the gene have already been tested on monkeys, in which the blood lipid level has been notably lowered. Scientists should very soon adapt these new treatments for human patients. .
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