Atherosclerosis, inflammation, genetics, and stem cells: 2012 update.

ABSTRACT: Atherosclerosis is a peculiar form of inflammation triggered by cholesterol-rich lipoproteins and other noxious factors such as cigarette smoke, diabetes mellitus, and hypertension. Genetics also play an important role in the disease, accounting for about 40% of the risk. Of surprise in recent years of post-human genome sequencing, atherosclerosis-relevant genes discovered by non-biased techniques (ie, genome-wide association studies), did not rehash previously suspected pathways of lipid metabolism, diabetes, or hypertension. Instead these studies highlighted genes relevant to mechanisms of inflammation and stem cell biology. Only a minority of implicated genes were linked to lipid and other cardiac risk factor genes. Although such findings do not contradict the fact that atherosclerosis

SUBMITTER: Goldschmidt-Clermont PJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3537163 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature