Gene discovery may explain heart disease in type 2 diabetes patients
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Chronically high blood sugar in type 2 diabetes can lead to nerve damage and blindness, but patients can control their sugar levels if they buy Canadian Actos at a fraction of the cost. One other health complication that the disorder can have is heart disease, and new research points to gene variations that may explain why.
Scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis enrolled patients from the worldwide Bypass Angioplasty Revascularization Investigation 2 Diabetes (BARI 2D). All subjects had type 2 diabetes and coronary arteries that were beginning to clog. Some of these patients agreed to allow the researchers to sequence their DNA.
The results revealed variations in a gene known as TLL1, which is associated with inflammation and calcification of the blood vessels, the researchers said. A simple change of two letters in the sequence can make a patient more likely to develop coronary lesions. Furthermore, a change in this gene sequence was a better predictor for coronary artery disease than other factors, such as body mass index and smoking status, the researchers said.
However, when found in patients without diabetes, these gene variants do not appear to affect the likelihood of coronary artery disease.
"The progression and behavior of coronary artery disease appears uniquely aggressive in patients with diabetes," said author Richard Bach, MD.
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