Heart disease breakthrough could lead to new treatments
The discovery of 95 genes, of which 59 are new, kick starts a new era in research and could lead to a whole set of drug treatments for the developed world’s number one killer.
The study, the biggest of its kind to date, is so significant because it identifies the most important genes connected to high cholesterol, the biggest – and most preventable – cause of the disease which kills 87,000 a year in Britain alone.
Now scientists can look at each gene to see how they individually and collectively give rise to the dangerous condition.
Treatments which turn off or on the genes could be available within a decade, say experts.
Research in mice has already shown that one of the genes known as SORT1 has a protective effect against dangerous levels of cholesterol.
Professor Jeremy Pearson, vascular biologist at King’s College London and associate medical director of the British Heart Foundation, said the research was an “heroic effort”.
“What we get out of the survey is a comprehensive list of genes that affect fat and cholesterol levels in blood,” he said.
“They have found the genes now they have to found out how they act and affect the blood to develop targets for new medicines.
“It has been an heroic effort and opens a whole new chapter in research to prevent heart disease.”
The research, an analysis of 46 studies by institutions across the world including Harvard and Cambridge Universities, involved more than 100,000 people, including 2,000 families in Britain.
The researchers compared each individuals genetic make up to their levels of cholesterol and heart disease.
While eating saturated fat increases cholesterol, the body naturally makes its own – an ability which is inherited in their genes.
There also two types of cholesterol – LDL, the so-called “bad cholesterol” and HDL – “good cholesterol” which counter each other in the body.
However some people are genetically more likely to have higher levels of one or the other.
Taken together, the 95 genes unveiled in Nature account for a quarter and a third of the inherited levels of cholesterol and triglyceride, another fat dangerous in high amounts, measured in the blood.
Prof Francis Collins, a geneticist at the National Institutes of Health in Maryland, said: “Genetic studies that survey a wide variety of human populations are a powerful tool for identifying hereditary factors in health and disease.
“These results help refine our course for preventing and treating heart disease, a health problem that affects millions of people worldwide.”
In a second paper in the same journal researchers at the University of Pennsylvania and colleagues showed how manipulating a mutated version of one of the genes known as SORT1 decreased cholesterol levels in mice.
The laboratory animals’ cholesterol was reduced by 80 per cent when they were injected with a drug that increased amounts of a particular liver protein.
At the moment statins are used in patients to reduce cholesterol. Often hailed as a “wonder drug” they rarely, however, lower levels by more than a quarter and do not always save patients from a heart attack.
This new research could lead to even more powerful treatments.
The British Heart Foundation said the new gene discoveries will “help us beat heart disease”.
The charity’s medical director Prof Peter Weissberg said: “We have known for a long time having high levels of harmful LDL cholesterol in the blood can lead to heart disease.
“That is why medicines that lower cholesterol, such as statins, are so effective at preventing heart attacks.
“Although this is just a first step down a long road the good news is that the more we understand about cholesterol regulation, the more likely it is that new drugs will be developed to prevent heart disease.”
Vitamins fail another test
The supposed benefits of vitamins have suffered another blow. In this case it’s B vitamins, which do not appear to protect stroke patients from subsequent heart attacks or strokes, according to the biggest, best study to examine the issue.
Previous research has suggested that people with elevated levels of an amino acid in their blood known as homocysteine are at increased risk for heart attacks and strokes. B vitamins can reduce homocysteine levels.
To test this hypothesis, researchers in Australia launched the new study, which involved giving 8,164 patients who had suffered a stroke in the previous seven months either a placebo or a combination of the B vitamins folic acid, vitamin B6 and vitamin B12.
In the September issue of the British journal The Lancet Neurology, the researchers report that those who took the B vitamins had lower homocysteine levels. But those taking the B vitamins were not significantly less likely to suffer a stroke, heart attack or to die from any cause during the 3.4-year study.
Despite the findings, however, Peter Sandercock of the Western General Hospital in Edinburgh, England, argues that more research is needed to continue to explore the hypothesis, especially given the previous findings and the fact that B vitamins appear to be very safe.
Seven hours of Sleep is best for Health
NewsRoom: Breaking News! Getting seven hours of sleep daily can keep your heart good in condition. But too much or too little sleep can develop cardiovascular disease, claims a new study.
Researchers from the West Virginia University (WVU) School of Medicine found that seven hours of sleep is optimal to lead a healthy life with strong heart. The study conducted on more than 30,000 people found that people who was sleeping only five hours a day, have developed angina, coronary heart disease, heart attack or stroke.
Further, the study came with findings that people who sleep more than nine hours a day developed cardiovascular disease, while people with six or eight hours of sleep a day have less risk of heart disease.
According to the study, the long duration of sleep affects endocrine and metabolic functions in our body, while sleep deprivation leads to impaired glucose tolerance, reduced insulin sensitivity, elevated blood pressure, and increases the risk of hardening the arteries
http://www.breakingnewsonline.net/health/3234-seven-hours-of-sleep-is-best-for-health-study.html
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/checkup/2010/08/another_vitamin_fails_a_test.html
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/7926656/Heart-disease-breakthrough-could-lead-to-new-treatments.html