Key Genes Identified in Coronary Artery Disease

Microarray technology was used to discover several new genetic variations that appear to increase the risk of developing coronary artery disease (CAD).

Traditionally, investigators perform genetic association studies by focusing on a specific subset of genes to replicate findings from initial genome scans. The whole-genome approach to replication enabled investigators to uncover new genetic variations associated with CAD. Carriers of one of the variants, which could lead to the development of atherosclerosis, have a 36 % greater chance of developing CAD.

A team of scientists from the Wellcome Trust (UK) Case Control Consortium (WTCCC) and the Cardiogenics Consortium (University of Luebeck; Germany) used the Affymetrix (Santa Clara, CA, USA) GeneChip microarray technology to discover several new genetic variations that could increase the risk of developing CAD. The WTCCC and Cardiogenics team used the same genome-wide Affymetrix GeneChip 500K arrays to replicate two genetic associations from their two separate internal cohort samples, and were able to identify four new variations. Their findings were published in the July 18, 2007, issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

This joint analysis of two genome-wide analyses not only identified several new variants for myocardial infarction, which is the leading cause of CAD, but also provides access to a unique database for future studies on genetic association with this phenotype, said Jeanette Erdmann, Ph.D., chief of the molecular genetic laboratory at the department of cardiology of the University of Luebeck (Germany) and member of the Cardiogenics Consortium. Microarrays, such as the 500K Array and the newly released SNP Array 6.0, offer remarkable coverage of the genome and increase the possibility of discovering new genes associated with complex diseases such as CAD.


Related Links:
Wellcome Trust
Affymetrix
Cardiogenics Consortium