VAMP8 and HNRPUL1 Genes Associated With Heart Attacks

The VAMP8 and HNRPUL1 genes have been associated with an increased risk of myocardial infarction (MI) also known as heart attack; VAMP8 is involved in platelet aggregation and HNRPUL1 encodes a ribonuclear protein. In a study of 2,000 individuals in three case-control studies, two single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were identified in these two genes and found to occur more frequently amongst those with early-onset heart attack.

Dr. Tom White:

In order for genetic marker studies to translate into diagnostic tests with significant medical impact, discovery study results must be reproducible and applicable to a wide group of people. Too often, when new markers are reported, the disease association cannot be confirmed because the study used a small sample set that was not representative of other samples sets. In addition, a spurious disease association could be found due to chance alone if a large number of SNPs are tested. The size of this study and the identification of VAMP8 and HNRPUL1, coupled with other prospective studies of the general population underway at Celera, are providing valuable insight toward the development of a Genetic Risk Score(TM) that may be used just as conventional risk factors are used to identify individuals at elevated risk for heart disease.

I find the fact that they were able to reproduce the results in three groups of people to be fascinating. From previous experience, I’ve seen how gene association studies can come up with vastly different conclusions depending on the population being studied, the number of study participants, and the specific gene variant being analyzed. It goes to show that pooling resources can result in data that leave less room for doubt.

Genetic Engineering News, May 11, 2006

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