Blocking a gene may reduce heart disease risk

Blocking the expression of a gene can decrease the levels of blood lipids that are associated with increased risk of cardiovascular and pancreatic illnesses, a new study has found.
By blocking the expression of the gene in patients that codes for the apoC-III protein, researchers demonstrated great decreases in the concentration of triglycerides in their blood, even in various severe forms of hypertriglyceridemia and regardless of the base values or the treatment the patient usually receives.
"Our study suggests that the protein apoC-III plays a key role in the management of triglycerides. Triglycerides, like cholesterol, are lipids. They come from fats carried by our food or produced by our bodies," said first author Daniel Gaudet from University of Montreal in Canada.

"Depending on the cause, the accumulation of triglycerides in blood is associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular and pancreatic illnesses, and other complications," Gaudet said.
"Our conclusions are promising in terms of the prevention of the risk associated with the accumulation of fat in blood," he said.
Although rare forms of genetic triglyceride accumulation exist, for which there are few effective treatments, hypertriglyceridemia is the one most often associated with frequent health issues, such as obesity or diabetes.

Last year, the same research team demonstrated blocking the expression of the gene that encodes apoC-III led to major relief of triglyceridemia in patients suffering a rare and extreme form of hypertriglyceridemia, which in turn opened the door for the identification of unexpected mechanisms that govern blood fat.

The results demonstrate apoC-III's important contribution to the complex mechanisms by which our bodies manage blood fat.
"Decoding mechanisms opens the door to precise, individual interventions for the prevention of residual risk associated with the various causes of severe hypertriglyceridemia," Gaudet said.
"The results of these studies enable the acceleration of research targeting better understanding and control of the risk trajectory associated with various forms of severe hypertriglyceridemia," he added.
The study was published in the New England Journal of Medicine.