Discovering Genetic Risks for Type of Heart Attack Largely Affecting Younger Women

New study findings provide novel pathophysiological insights involving blood vessel integrity and tissue-mediated coagulation in a type of heart attack in young women.

New genes associated with an increased risk of a type of heart attack primarily affecting young to middle-aged women have been discovered by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Leicester Biomedical Research Centre (BRC) and Universite Paris Cite. The results are published in Nature Genetics.

SCAD – or Spontaneous Coronary Artery Dissection – is when a bruise or bleed occurs in the wall of a coronary artery, cutting off the blood to part of the heart. This leads to a heart attack. Unlike other types of heart attack, SCAD is most common in women under the age of 60 ().

Heart Attack - Overview
Heart attack is the death of the heart muscle due to loss of blood supply. Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States. Other names for heart attack include acute myocardial infarction, coronary thrombosis, and coronary occlusion.

‘‘Understanding the genetic basis of spontaneous coronary artery dissection – a type of heart attack involving young women, might set the stage for future specific therapeutics and preventions.#heart attack #myocardial infarction #genetics’’

It is also the leading cause of heart attacks around the time of pregnancy. Furthermore, people who have had a SCAD tend to be generally healthy and SCAD can sometimes happen more than once. To date, little is known about why a SCAD happens, meaning that it is currently impossible to prevent ().

New Genetic Insights on Spontaneous Coronary Artery Dissection

To find a solution, researchers presented a genome-wide association meta-analysis involving a total of 1,917 cases of SCAD and 9,292 controls from European ancestry. They found 16 genes that increased the risk of a SCAD.

The identified genes are involved in processes that determine how the cells and connective tissue hold together, and also how the blood clots when bleeding occurs in tissues. Interestingly, while many genes linked to a higher risk of SCAD are shared with risk genes for conventional coronary artery disease (CAD), they have the opposite effect ().

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This means patients with SCAD have some genetic protection from the risk of CAD, and is further evidence that these diseases are very different. The only shared risk factor appeared to be genetically elevated blood pressure.

This research confirms that there are multiple genes involved in determining the risk of a person having SCAD. These genes give us the first key insight into the underlying causes of this disease and provide new lines of inquiry, which researchers hope will guide future new treatment approaches.

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References:

The Lancet women and cardiovascular disease Commission: reducing the global burden by 2030 - (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S014067362100684X)
Spontaneous Coronary Artery Dissection: Current State of the Science: A Scientific Statement From the American Heart Association - (https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/full/10.1161/CIR.0000000000000564)
Genome-wide association meta-analysis of spontaneous coronary artery dissection identifies risk variants and genes related to artery integrity and tissue-mediated coagulation - (https://www.nature.com/articles/s41588-023-01410-1)

Source-Eurekalert

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