Tuesday, November 14, 2017

Systematic Evaluation of Pleiotropy Identifies 6 Further Loci Associated with Coronary Artery Disease

Coronary artery disease kills 610,000 people every year in the United States. Although 56 loci have been identified that only explains about 15% of the diseases heritability. The coronary artery disease loci also show a relation to other cardiovascular health factors such as high blood pressure and certain lipid traits. Several loci also show an association with other diseases such as the risk of strokes and aneurisms. In this article, it details the research done to identify 6 new loci associated with genomic wide significance to coronary artery disease, and examined the effects of pleiotropy of the loci. The leading cause of coronary artery disease in one of their newly found loci was a cholesterol ester transfer protein gene. This gene mediates the transfer of cholesterol esters from high density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterols to other lipoproteins. The allele is associated with lower levels of (HDL).

                I think this article was informative and relevant to today’s day and age. Coronary artery disease is a very common disease that affects a lot of people throughout the world. With the ability to easily acquire such calorically dense foods that are usually high in sodium and fats, the number of people affected by the disease is increasing. I think this research is necessary moving forward, because we need to know if someone is at risk even if they have a healthy lifestyle. There are several factors both internal, such as having a higher risk due to genetic factors, or external such as diet and the amount of exercise. I think having a better understanding of the genetic aspect of coronary artery disease can let us to better plan on how to manage the risks associated. 

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0735109716373417

https://www.cdc.gov/heartdisease/facts.htm

1 comment:

  1. I think your article ties in with my article about the deletion of the cholesterol gene. Many of the diseases and sicknesses that you mentioned are due to high cholesterol in the body. Since Coronary artery disease is heritable, the deletion of the cholesterol gene may aid it's negative effects. Hopefully future studies will include more associated loci for this disease.

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