An international team of cardiologists has identified more than 150 genes linked to coronary heart disease (CHD).
The research is published in Circulation: Genomic and Precision Medicine, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Heart Association.
The research could lead to a new field of targeted therapies for CHD, which is responsible for around 64,000 deaths in the UK each year.
Lead author and Executive Director of the Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute, Professor Jason Kovacic, said:
“[W]e have now more accurately defined the precise genes that are likely to cause coronary heart disease.
“Second, we’ve 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.
“Some of the top genes identified on this list have never really been studied in the context of heart attacks before.
“To find these new important genes is really exciting but also a real challenge – as no one yet knows exactly how many of them cause coronary heart disease.”
A total of 600 patients with CHD and 150 without the condition were enrolled onto the study.
All the patients underwent open chest surgery for CHD or other medical reasons.
The researchers used a supercomputer called Minerva to process the analyse the data and collate information on thousands of genes.
Professor Kovacic hopes the findings will create a whole new field of work in detecting and preventing heart attacks.
The researcher added:
“This knowledge will allow us to go after these really critical genes that cause heart attacks, as we now know just how highly-deserving they are of immediate in-depth study to understand exactly how they cause coronary heart disease and if they might be promising drug targets for patients.”
