Identified a protein that quadruples cardiovascular risk | Society

Identified a protein that quadruples cardiovascular risk | Society



"This is simple and practical precision medicine," says doctor Pedro Mata on his latest publication: the identification of the effect of lipoprotein a, abbreviated as Lpa, on the cardiovascular risk of those who have it (more than 50 milligrams per deciliter). of blood). The specialist in familial hypercholesterolemia (HF, the groups of people related by blood links with genetic predisposition to have high cholesterol) sums it up like this: "If you have only high Lpa, the risk rate of having a cardiovascular event is 3.17 because these patients they have no treatment. " "If you have only familial hypercholesterolemia, the risk is 2.5, if both conditions are present, it is 4.4", and this is despite the fact that people already identified as carriers of the genetic variant are usually already medicated. lower levels of bad cholesterol.

The work, which has been published in the journal Journal American College of Cardiology, has studied almost 3,000 people, relatives of others identified with familial hypercholesterolemia of the cohort of Safeheart studio Spanish. In addition to the Mata group, the work Gerald Watts, from the Royal Perth Hospital in Australia.

According to the authors, these data demonstrate the validity of following the evolution of Lpa in people with cardiovascular risk or a history of high hereditary cholesterol. The molecule itself is a protein bound to a bad cholesterol particle (LDL). Its increase has an inflammatory effect on the arterial wall and accelerates atherosclerosis and thrombosis, says Mata.

This protein is very variable, and its levels oscillate up to a thousand times from one person to another. Although both having familial hypercholesterolemia and this elevated protein are genetic determinants, both mutations are not related.

It is estimated that in the world around one every 500 people have the mutation that determines familial hypercholesterolemia. On the other hand, more than half of Spanish adults have high cholesterol, according to calculates the Spanish Society of Cardiology. The result is a huge group of people at risk of having a cardiovascular event, who needs to control it (with medication or other measures).

.



Source link