Editor's Choice Academic Journal Main Category: Heart Disease Also Included In: Genetics;Medical Devices / Diagnostics Article Date: 16 Mar 2012 - 9:00 PDT

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Using a gene analysis tool called the Cardiochip, the researchers examined a specific gene variant associated with inflammation and heart disease. The chip was designed by Brendan J. Keating, Ph.D., co-author of the study and a researcher in the Center for Applied Genomics at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.

Even though researchers are aware of the association between inflammation and atherosclerosis - a disorder in which fat, cholesterol, and other fatty deposits build up in the walls of arteries - they have been unable to find an inflammatory agent that causes the diseases, until now. In addition, researchers did not know whether a drug targeted at reducing inflammation might treat the disease.

The team focused on the signaling protein interleukin-6 receptor (IL6R). IL6R is found in the blood and increases inflammatory responses.

Keating explained:

The meta-analysis study was conducted by the IL6R Mendelian Randomization Analysis Consortium, and international team of investigators led by Dr. Juan Pablo Casas, Professor Aroon. D. Hingorani, and Dr. Daniel I. Swerdlow, all of University College London, UK.

The researchers examined data from 40 previous studies that involved almost 133,500 individuals from Europe and the United States. Mendelian randomization is a research technique that utilizes knowledge of genes and biological mechanisms in order to figure out the likely effects of a new medication before a clinical trial is conducted, with its potential risk of adverse effects and high cost.

In the same issue of The Lancet, an associated report conducted by the IL6R Genetics Consortium and Emerging Risk Factors Collaboration, discovered that a genetic variant of the IL6R gene, which carries the code for the IL6R protein, decreases inflammation and therefore reduces the risk of heart disease.

Read more:
Gene Chip May Help Prevent Heart Disease

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