By analysing large amounts of data, researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden have developed a system for classifying individuals into different risk groups for atherosclerosis.
The results enable early detection of the disease, which can lead to personalized preventive care.
Atherosclerosis is a silent disease that often only becomes apparent when a cardiovascular event occurs. If individuals at risk of atherosclerosis progression can be identified before symptoms occur, it may be possible to intervene, halt progression and prevent serious conditions such as heart attack or stroke.
In the new study, researchers used extensive data from three large cohorts in Europe: SCAPIS, UK Biobank, and IMPROVE. The researchers discovered that it is possible to distinguish four different risk groups of individuals, whose susceptibility for heart attacks and strokes could be graded from low to very high.
The researchers were also able to identify the genes that drive the risk of cardiovascular events in each group. In particular, they identified a specific genetic variant in the IL6R gene, which is involved in the regulation of inflammation in atherosclerosis. This variant has a modest effect on the risk of cardiovascular events in the general population, but it amplified the risk of heart attack only in the group of individuals with a very high predicted risk of cardiovascular events.
Identifying such a gene is the first step towards personalized cardiovascular prevention, according to the researchers behind the study.
“This is an important discovery because it gives us an opportunity to intervene at a stage when the disease is still asymptomatic. At the asymptomatic stage, atherosclerosis can be stopped and even reversed if the right measures are taken. Our results can help to design patient-specific interventions that lead to better health,“ said Bruna Gigante, associate professor at the Department of Medicine, Solna, Karolinska Institutet.
“The next step in our research is to conduct studies and understand if drugs antagonizing this pathway driven by IL6R can reverse the aggressive development of atherosclerosis in this selected group of individuals.
The study was funded by the Swedish Heart-Lung Foundation, the Swedish Research Council, and the Foundation for Former Servants. There are no reported conflicts of interest.
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