The landmark study into the biggest killer disease known as heart disease has linked to just a few rogue genes and lifestyle preferences. The three studies which included hundreds of researchers worldwide have identified eighteen genes that increase the risk of cardiac problems from heart attacks to hardening of arteries.
The burst through will open new ways to treat and prevent heart disease that is blamed for one in eight death, all over the globe. The eighteen genes were identified through analyzing the DNA of more than two lakh people. The researchers focused on hereditary connections to the hardening of arteries, which supply oxygenated blood to heart muscles.
The narrowing of arteries occurred due to build up fatty deposit or plaques and raises the likelihood of host of ailments from blood clots to angina, irregular heartbeats heart attacks and heart failure. Several of newly identified genes affect blood pressure, cholesterol and other procedures significant to health of the heart.
Bu the actual number of genes which harm the heart and arteries is still a mystery. But this study thrilled the researchers as it proposes significant cause of the heart disease and drugs to fight off the effects of the genes could one day make a massive improvement to health.
According to Dr Robert Roberts from the University of Ottawa Heart Institute, Canada, this a milestone finding as they have discovered so many genes and most work using entirely unfamiliar mechanisms. Now their job is to understand how these genes work, develop a new group of drugs to aim them and identify people who will benefit the most.
Understanding how these genes work, which is the next step, will vastly improve their understanding of how the disease develops, and could escort to new treatments, explained Prof Nilesh Samani, co-author the largest of the studies from the University of Leicester.
The first new drugs could be on the market in under a decade. Some of the North American researchers said the breakthrough meant they were come closer to a genetic test that will tell a person their risk of a heart attack, stated Prof Hugh Watkins who co-led one of the studies, from Oxford University.
But for most people, other aspects like smoking, poor diet and a lack of exercise can play a significant role in causing heart attacks