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Gene Associated with Heart Attack Risk
Two genes have been associated with an increased risk of an early heart attack. According to the researchers from the University of California, San Francisco; Cleveland Clinic; Case Western Reserve University; Brigham Young University; and Celera Genomics, after doing a study that involved over 2,000 people, identified the two genes.
They stated that those with the genes had twice the risk of an early heart attack than those who did not have the genes. The relatively large number of people involved in the case reduced the risk that the findings were the result of chance and could set the stage for a diagnostic test that could predict which people were at risk for a heart attack.
The research linked one form of a gene known as VAMP8 to the early stages of blood-clot formation, which, when formed in the heart, can block oxygen and lead to a heart attack. Another gene, HNRPUL1 was also found to be strongly associated with heart attack risk, although the nature of the connection was less clear.
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