THURSDAY, June 22, 2017 (HealthDay News) -- Certain genes linked to heart disease may also improve your chances of having children, a new study suggests. <\/p>\n
Australian researchers said the findings seem to offer a potential explanation for why evolution has allowed these genes to persist for centuries. <\/p>\n
While lifestyle is clearly important in heart disease risk, scientists have found many genes also influence those odds. <\/p>\n
\"Genes play a very important role in coronary artery disease risk across an individual's lifetime,\" said study author Sean Byars, a research fellow at the University of Melbourne. In fact, it's estimated that genes account for about 50 percent of the risk. <\/p>\n
The rest, he said, is due to other factors, including habits like smoking and eating a poor diet. <\/p>\n
Heart disease is a major killer worldwide, and it has long plagued humanity. Scientists have found evidence of clogged arteries in Egyptian mummies, Byars and his colleagues pointed out. <\/p>\n
The researchers said that raises a fundamental question: Why haven't the genes that promote heart disease been weeded out by natural selection? <\/p>\n
Natural selection is the process by which organisms -- including humans -- evolve to have better survival odds. <\/p>\n
The new study suggests one answer: Byars' team found that a few dozen genes tied to heart disease might also contribute to people's \"reproductive success.\" <\/p>\n
Since heart disease usually strikes later in life, after people have had their kids, it would be a reasonable trade-off for better fertility -- at least in terms of survival of the species. <\/p>\n
The findings, published online recently in the journal PLOS Genetics, do not have any immediate implications for managing heart disease or fertility, Byars said. <\/p>\n
\"This study is more about potentially helping to provide a fundamental understanding of why [heart disease] is so prevalent in modern humans,\" he explained. <\/p>\n
Byars did, however, point to a big-picture issue: The findings may sound a cautionary note about \"gene-editing\" -- a technology scientists are studying with the hope of correcting genetic flaws that cause disease. <\/p>\n
\"One potential concern a study like this raises,\" Byars said, \"is that in an era of gene-editing, we need to be very careful about unintended consequences of modifying our genomes -- due to shared functions of these genes that are not always obvious.\" <\/p>\n
For the study, the researchers used two large databases with a wealth of genetic information, along with data from a long-running health study of U.S. adults. <\/p>\n
The investigators first focused on 76 genes that are linked to heart disease -- the kind caused by clogged arteries. From there, the researchers found that 40 genes were also tied to at least one aspect of reproductive \"fitness.\" <\/p>\n
Some were related to the number of children people had, while others were tied to a woman's age at her first and last menstrual period. There were 19 to 29 genes, the researchers said, that were tied to \"traits\" that can directly sway male or female fertility. <\/p>\n
Heart disease is, of course, a complex condition that involves many different factors. Even if Mother Nature insists that humans carry heart-disease genes, there is still plenty that people can do about it, according to Dr. Robert Rosenson. <\/p>\n
Rosenson, a cardiologist at Mount Sinai Health System in New York City, pointed to the example of familial hypercholesterolemia (FH). <\/p>\n
FH is an inherited disorder caused by a single genetic defect, and it leads to very high \"bad\" cholesterol levels and a substantial risk of premature heart disease. <\/p>\n
But even with those genetic cards stacked against them, Rosenson said, people with FH can prevent or delay heart complications -- by taking cholesterol medication, exercising regularly, not smoking and eating a healthy diet. <\/p>\n
\"Even if you have a disease-causing genetic trait, lifestyle absolutely makes a difference,\" Rosenson said. <\/p>\n
Most genes tied to heart disease do not have such a dramatic effect -- a large number, he noted, have a \"minor\" impact on heart disease risk. <\/p>\n
But studying the genetics of heart disease will hopefully lead to better treatments, Rosenson said. <\/p>\n
Genes, he explained, may help explain why one person responds well to a cholesterol-lowering statin, while someone else \"gains weight and develops diabetes,\" for example. <\/p>\n
\"Someone might develop a drug side effect simply because they've inherited a trait that interferes with a drug-elimination pathway,\" Rosenson said. <\/p>\n
The hope for the future, he said, is to use genetic information to help predict which treatments will likely benefit an individual patient. <\/p>\n
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The rest is here: <\/p>\n
Heart Disease: A Price Humans Pay for Fertility? - Sioux City Journal<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" THURSDAY, June 22, 2017 (HealthDay News) -- Certain genes linked to heart disease may also improve your chances of having children, a new study suggests. Continue reading