14 DAY TRIAL // Researchers made a major breakthrough in understanding heart disease and heart attack risks, by identifying two new genes that could favor these cardiovascular problems.
The scientists from the British Heart Foundation have discovered two genes that could increase the risk of heart disease and heart attack – it is actually a piece of genetic code that increases some people's risk of developing heart disease.
Also, it seems that another gene that is responsible for people's blood group, is somehow connected to an increased risk of heart attack, in individuals who have already suffered from heart disease.
Before getting to these conclusions, the researchers analyzed data from the BHF funded ‘Family Heart Study.’
Twenty years ago, the British Heart Foundation sponsored two professors, to analyze the DNA of people affected by heart disease and their families.
Based on their findings and on data gathered from around the world, this new research has been able to identify genes linked to an increased risk of heart attack.
BHF Associate Medical Director Professor Jeremy Pearson says that “by studying a large number of patients where the extent of their coronary artery disease had been measured, this study identified one new gene that plays a role in how quickly heart disease develops.
“For the first time, they were also able to show that the blood group gene alters the risk of a heart attack in people with coronary artery disease, not by affecting the development of the disease but possibly by affecting the risk of blood clots forming on diseased arteries.
“The findings elegantly demonstrate that different mechanisms combine to trigger heart attacks.
“It reinforces that successful prevention requires us to consider both risk factors.”
“Data from the Family Heart Study has already helped us understand heart disease better,” added Professor Pearson.
“The people who contributed their DNA to our study all those years ago are still helping to reveal new information about how our hearts work.”
This new research has been published in The Lancet.