Researchers Find New Mutations That Limit Heart Attacks
According to research published by two independent groups in the New England Journal of Medicine, there are newly discovered mutations which limit heart attacks and have potential for drug discovery. Heart attacks and strokes are the leading cause of death on the planet, with 14 million people across the globe dying each year from one of the dangerous conditions.
Researchers have found that patients with mutations in the gene that makes triglyceride fat particles have as much as a 40 percent reduction in the rate of heart attacks and strokes. While researchers were long in the dark about what particular mix of harmful proteins caused heart attacks and strokes, they are now focused on triglycerides. Ethan J. Weiss, associate professor at the University of California, San Francisco’s School of Medicine, talked about this new research focus. “In medical school we were told to ignore triglycerides and focus on HDL. It turns out that we probably had it backwards, and that we should be paying attention to triglycerides and ignoring HDL.”
Steven Nissen, the chair of cardiology at the Cleveland Clinic, called the results of the research a “big deal.” He described the effects on pharmaceutical companies. “Nobody has been absolutely sure of the role of triglycerides in heart disease. And while these kinds of studies don’t prove triglyceride-lowering heart drugs will work, they do lay the groundwork.” Experts believe that the next step for pharmaceutical companies is further investigating the link between triglycerides and heart disease. Researchers believe that drug companies could capitalize on these new drugs, but they caution that more research is necessary before the first blockbuster is produced.