Genetic Research: The New Battleground in the Fight Against Heart Disease
University of Ottawa Heart Institute Leads a New Scientific Focus on Preventive Medicine Aimed at Eliminating Heart Disease
Modern medicine has the technology and scientific tools to dramatically reduce and probably eliminate heart disease over the next 50 years, says Dr. Robert Roberts, CEO and President of the University of Ottawa Heart Institute (UOHI). Significant research underway at the Heart Institute will soon enable scientists to isolate, understand and target the trail of genetic activity that causes Coronary Artery Disease (CAD), Dr. Roberts said in a keynote speech at the Canadian Cardiovascular Congress. This means that in the near future, patients with a predisposition to heart disease could be genetically assessed by a simple blood test and provided with a full preventive prescription to prevent the onset on heart disease.
"We are looking at an era somewhere in the not-too-distant future when a person's genetic makeup will be looked at for specific variances, then a preventive package can individualized and personalized," says Dr. Roberts. "I don't think there is any doubt that we must and will identify the appropriate genes, determine their function and get specific about targeting them."
Research at the Canadian Cardiovascular Genetics Research Centre(TM), located at the Heart Institute, involves interrogating genes that could lead to Coronary Artery Disease by allowing scientists to identify genetic differences between patients who have CAD and those who are free from heart disease. To date, the Heart Institute has completed 700 million genotypes on 1,400 patients, Dr. Robert says.
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