May 24, 2006
Research led by Craig Lee, PharmD, a graduate student in the Division of Pharmacotherapy and Experimental Therapeutics, shows that a common genetic variation makes some people more susceptible to coronary heart disease. About 15 percent of all Caucasians have the genetic variation, which is also known as a polymorphism. Those who carry the polymorphism are approximately 1.5 times more likely to have a CHD event, such as a heart attack, than those who do not.
“We found that Caucasians who carry this polymorphism, named K55R, were at significantly higher risk of coronary heart disease, independent of other risk factors, like cigarette smoking, diabetes, and hypertension,” said Lee. “We did not observe the same association in African Americans who had the K55R polymorphism.”
Coronary heart disease is a major public health problem, with approximately 1.2 million Americans estimated to experience a CHD event this year.
“By looking at ten different polymorphisms, we were able to survey the gene and determine that this one particular variation is related to cardiovascular disease risk in Caucasians,” said Lee. “More research is needed to determine if this finding is applicable to other populations.”
The work was completed under the direction of Darryl C. Zeldin, MD, a senior investigator at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences and adjunct faculty member in the Division of Pharmacotherapy and Experimental Therapeutics, and in collaboration with investigators from the School of Public Health
Participants of this study were part of a larger study, the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) Study, which is funded by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. The ARIC Study is a long-term study consisting of nearly 16,000 men and women age 45-64 from four diverse communities, including Forsyth County, North Carolina; Jackson, Mississippi; Minneapolis, Minnesota; and Washington County, Maryland. The study, which started in 1987, seeks to investigate and identify cardiovascular disease risk factors in men and women.
The study is published in the Volume 15, No. 10 issue of Human Molecular Genetics.
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