New research has failed to confirm findings from smaller studies that 85 gene variations are associated with an increased risk for acute coronary syndromes (ACS), which includes heart attack and a type of angina, according to a study in the April 11 issue of JAMA: The Journal of the American Medical Association.
Previous studies have identified a number of genetic variations as potential cardiovascular risk factors, but few, if any, have been established definitively. "Before use in clinical care, potential genetic risk factors would ideally be replicated en masse in large, well-characterized patient populations. To date, no such comprehensive validation of genetic variants potentially associated with ACS or atherosclerosis has been reported," the authors write.
Thomas M. Morgan M.D., formerly of the Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Conn., and colleagues conducted a study to validate genetic risk factors for ACS. The researchers identified genetic variants previously reported as significant susceptibility factors for atherosclerosis or ACS through a literature search of published articles. This study included 811 patients with ACS and 650 age- and sex-matched controls who were genotyped for 85 variants in 70 genes and attempted to replicate previously reported associations.
Of 85 variants tested, only one of the gene variants was nominally statistically significant. Only four additional genes were positive in model-free analysis. Neither number of associations was more frequent than expected by chance, given the number of comparisons. Only 41 of 84 predefined risk variants were even marginally more frequent in cases than in controls (with 1 tie).