Cellular stress process identified in cardiovascular disease

Contact: Sarah AveryPhone: 919-660-1306Email: sarah.avery@duke.edu FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE on Friday, Nov. 6, 2015 DURHAM, N.C. – Combining the investigative tools of genetics, transcriptomics, epigenetics and metabolomics, a Duke Medicine research team has identified a new molecular pathway involved in heart attacks and death from heart disease. The researchers, publishing online in the journal PLOS Genetics, found that stress on a component of cells called the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) is associated with risk of future heart events, and it can be detected in bits of molecular detritus circulating in the blood. “ER stress has long been linked to Type 1 diabetes and Parkinson’s disease, among others, but this is the first indication that it is also playing a role in common heart attacks and death from heart disease,” said senior author Svati H. Shah, M.D., associate professor of medicine and faculty at the Molecular Physiology Institute at Duke. “It’s also exciting that we are able to measure this ER stress in a small drop of blood, providing a potential way to intercede and lower the risk of a major cardiovascular event.” Even after mapping the human genome and finding genetic traits associated with cardiovascular disease, the mechanisms underlying the inherited susceptibility to this disease have not been fully understood. Shah said the Duke team’s research approach -- using a variety of analytical methods measuring over a million data points in 3,700 patient...
Source: DukeHealth.org: Duke Health Features - Category: Pediatrics Tags: Duke Medicine Source Type: news