Monday, June 5, 2017, 11:30 AM – 1 PM EDT
“Heart Attack and Stroke: The Role of Genes and Drugs”
The bad news? Arteriosclerosis continues to rank number one among major causes of death and disability for women and men in developed countries. Approximately 40% of all deaths are caused by this type of vascular disease. Women are now at equal risk of heart attack as men and at greater risk of stroke. The good news? Through therapy based on our understanding of certain genes, it is possible to treat those with arteriosclerotic vascular disease and thereby, markedly reduce the incidence of heart attack and stroke.
There is perhaps no one better suited to share the good news about such possible treatment than Emory’s own W. Virgil Brown, M.D., Charles Howard Candler Professor of Medicine Emeritus and Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Clinical Lipidology. As he’ll explain, we now know that there are certain particles in the blood containing both cholesterol and a specific protein called apolipoprotein B (apoB) and that it is the concentration of these particles that is the major cause of arteriosclerosis, with the possibility of heart attack and stroke exacerbated by risk factors such as cigarette smoking and high blood pressure. With our new knowledge of the many genes that determine the concentration of apoB in the blood, we have been able to develop drugs that affect the function of these specific genes and thereby reduce markedly the concentration of apoB.
The result has provided physicians with a pharmacopeia that can set apoB and blood cholesterol to virtually any chosen level—even in those with known vascular disease. Recent studies have shown that these drugs have reduced heart attacks and strokes by more than 50% in such individuals. And those who have little or no involvement of their arteries with arteriosclerosis? Such individuals should, simply and wonderfully, never have a heart attack or stroke. A good news gospel, indeed.