Gene found to increase risk of heart problems

Researchers in London have identified a gene that increases the risk of heart attacks and heart failure.

Findings published in the journal Nature Genetics reveal that a gene previously linked to heart function, osteoglycin, plays a central role in regulating heart growth.

According to the study's authors from Imperial College London, the Medical Research Council (MRC) and various other international institutions, the discovery may be able to provide anti-aging physicians with new methods of treating patients with enlarged hearts.

Dr Stuart Cook, from the MRC Clinical Sciences Centre and the National Heart and Lung Institute at Imperial College London, explained: "Enlarged hearts are very common. A person whose heart is enlarged is more likely to suffer a heart attack or heart failure than someone whose heart is a normal size. We can't currently treat the condition directly, so lowering a patient's blood pressure is the only option we have.

"Now that we are unravelling how genes control heart growth, we can gain a better understanding of common forms of heart disease. This should lead to new and more effective ways of treating people."

The study, conducted on rats, mice and humans, was primarily funded by the British Heart Foundation and the UK Department of Health.