Of the common genes of diabetes and heart disease

vitstudio/epictura

Published the 04.09.2017 at 18h43

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Keywords :

diabetes type 2maladies cardiovascular

In the world, more than 380 million people suffer from type 2 diabetes. They are $ 2.2 million in France. In these patients, cardiovascular complications represent the first cause of mortality. So much so that a diabetic patient is seen immediately as a patient of the heart.

In fact, suffer from this illness triple the risk of being a victim of heart failure, a STROKE or a myocardial infarction silent. Diseases closely related because they share several genetic factors, according to a study presented this Monday, September 4 in Nature Genetics.

8 variants identified

The researchers of the school of medicine Perelman university of Pennsylvania have analyzed the genomic sequences of more than 250,000 men and women from Europe, Asia, South and East.
They were first identified 16 new genes promoting type 2 diabetes, as well as a new genetic risk factor of cardiovascular disease.

They have also found that most of the regions of DNA associated with high risk of diabetes are also linked to a higher risk of suffering cardiac and vascular.
For 8 of these sites, the researchers were able to clearly identify the genes at work. These genetic variants common to both diseases may play a role in the regulation of immunity, cell proliferation as well as in the development of the heart.

Track therapeutic

At the end of their work, scientists have found that the association between these different genes would go in one direction : it is the genetic vulnerability to type 2 diabetes, which is linked to cardiovascular disease, and not the reverse. In other words, the type 2 diabetes would be the bed of heart disease.

For the authors, these findings could open the way for the development of molecules capable of treating both diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Elsewhere, already-marketed drugs target these regions, say the authors. It is, in particular, the icosapent, an omega-3 content in fish oil.