Heart attack genes discovered

A team of Australian and European Scientists have identified a gene network which appears to be the main culprit in the hardening arteries and heart attacks.

Hardening of the arteries, or atherosclerosis, occurs when cholesterol builds up on the walls of arteries, triggering an immune response in the body which leads to more build up.

A research team, led by Walter and Eliza Hall Institute (WEHI)postdoctoral fellow Dr Michael Inouye, studied around 500 volunteers from Finland, looking at how cholesterols in the blood stream activate circulating immune cells.

Constructing biological networks of genes that move in concert they were then able to identify a network of genes affecting levels of cholesterol in the blood.

“For all intents and purposes these genes look like an inflammatory network and appear reactive to high-density lipoprotein, triglycerides and apolipoprotein B; all of which are predictors of downstream cardiovascular disease,” he said.

The discovery marks an important milestone in the understanding of biological networks, hopefully paving the way for researchers to identify multiple levels of potential intervention for cardiac disease.

Dr Inouye began the study at the UK’s Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute in the UK finishing it this year at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute. Researchers from Finland’s National Institute for Health and Welfare, the University of Helsinki and Leiden University Medical Centre in The Netherlands also took part.

Funding for the study was provided by the Wellcome Trust, the Australian National Health and Medical Research Council and the Finnish Academy.

The full results of study appear in the latest issue of the journal PLoS Genetics.