A gene linked to stroke? The experts disagree
Image from the Decode website
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Scientists from "Decode Genetics", the Icelandic company that previously identified genes related to schizophrenia and osteoporosis, reported yesterday that the company discovered a gene that, in a certain version, doubles the risk of heart attack and stroke. The company is now starting clinical trials of a drug designed to prevent the damage caused by the specific version of the gene.
In an article published yesterday in the journal "Nature Genetics", the company's scientists write that they discovered that the version of the gene, known as FLAP, is present in 29% of all heart attack sufferers in Iceland. This version almost doubles the chances of those who carry it having a heart attack.
The FLAP gene is involved in the creation of a chemical signal that activates the white blood cells involved in the formation of inflammation. Scientists believe that overactivity of the gene may be one of the main causes of the formation of heart attack and stroke, and this is because these conditions may be caused by an inflammatory process that causes a rupture in a sclerotic plaque and subsequently an artery blockage.
The German pharmaceutical company "Bayer" has already produced a drug that slows down the production of the enzyme that the FLAP gene encodes. The company's scientists thought that the gene might be involved in asthma, but the drug was tested on 2,000 asthma patients and it turned out to be ineffective in treating the disease. Decode received a license from Bayer to use the drug, and company officials hope to start testing it on humans soon.
Some experts expressed reservations about "Decode" claims. According to Dr. Richard Lipton of Yale University, an expert in the genetics of cardiovascular diseases, the evidence linking the gene version and heart attacks is "pretty weak." Dr. Lipton advised "Nature Genetics" not to publish the article. Dr. David Altshuler, a geneticist from Harvard University Medical School, who was also asked to review the article before its publication, warned the editors of the journal that the conclusions of the Icelandic researchers were too strongly worded.
A third expert, Dr. Christine Seidman, also a geneticist from Harvard, says that all parts of the article are based on properly conducted scientific research, but "combining all the parts does not lead to the conclusion that the researchers reached."
New York Times, from Walla!
The site of the Decode company
Science - the human genome
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