White blood cell genes may indicate heart disease

A test that is offered to measure the activity of genes in white blood cells may prove helpful for doctors to find the suitable treatment when someone complains of chest pain, a report says.

The findings are going to be published in the first issue of a new American Heart Association Journal named, Circulation: Cardiovascular Genetics. The journal will be released after every two months and according to Ramachandran S. Vasan, who is editor of the journal, “there is a dire need of such journal as the completion of the Human Genome Project is meant a quick acceleration of our knowledge regarding genes and their functionality.”Steven Rosenberg, who is chief scientific officer of CardioDx (a California biotechnology company), says: “Our study finds that there is a set of genes in white blood cells and their level of expression relates with coronary artery disease.”

The said genes have been recognized in a study of 41 people who underwent catheterization (a process that is used to find whether chest pain is a result of a heart artery blockage. The observed set of genes was up-regulated by the researchers in the presence of obstructive coronary artery disease.

“The blood test aims to look at the activity of those genes that can be handy to find whether chest pain in someone needs an artery-opening procedure or not,” Rosenberg added.