Genetic Profiling Identifies Blood Clot Risk

The discovery of novel genes regulating platelets will help our understanding of what makes these cells more sticky in some people than in others and could provide potential therapeutic targets for treatment of cardiovascular disease.

An international team from the Universities of Leicester, (Leicester, UK) and Cambridge (Cambridge, UK), analyzed expression data from 37 subjects representing the normal range of platelet responsiveness within a cohort of 500 subjects. They identified 63 genes in which transcript levels correlated with variation in the platelet response to adenosine diphosphate and/or the collagen-mimetic peptide, a cross-linked collagen-related peptide. An association study of 6 of the 63 genes in 4,235 cases and 6,379 controls showed a putative association with myocardial infarction.

Willem Ouwehand, MD PhD, one of the senior authors of the study, said, "Studies in large number of UK National Health Service patients who experienced a heart attack and healthy controls suggests that genetic differences in the gene for this protein slightly modifies the risk for blood clots. This type of study will help us to unravel the complex question why some people have a higher risk of a heart attack than others. One day this type of investigation may lead to a new generation of drugs that can be used to reduce the risk of this devastating disease.” The study was published in November 2010 in the journal Blood.

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