GENE VARIATION FINDING HOLDS PROMISE FOR DEVELOPMENT OF NEW DIAGNOSTICS FOR HEART DISEASE

A Duke University research team has found a variation in a gene, which could lead to the development of a genetic test to predict a person's risk for heart disease.

The gene, GATA2, and the genes it controls may help determine whether a person inherits coronary artery disease, the most common form of heart disease in the Western world, according to the researchers.

"We hope that one day it will be possible to use these gene variations to predict who is susceptible to cardiovascular disease," said Jessica Connelly, a postdoctoral fellow at the Duke Center for Human Genetics and lead author on the study. "This finding is the first step before we can develop such a test for use in patients."