29 Sep Genetic Risk Score Improves Ability To Predict Diabetics at Risk of Coronary Disease
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Dr. Morieri
Mario Luca Morieri MD
Section on Genetics and Epidemiology, Research Division, Joslin Diabetes Center
Department of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Response: Coronary artery disease (CAD) is one of the most important complications of diabetes.
Similarly to other complex disorders, CAD is influenced by both environmental and genetic factors. Over the last decade, our understanding of the genetic factors contributing to CAD has dramatically improved and hundreds of new genetic markers associated with increased cardiovascular risk have been identified.
In this study, we showed that combining these genetic markers into a single score (a so called genetic risk score) can improve our ability to the identify those patients with type 2 diabetes who are at higher risk of experiencing a coronary event.
MedicalResearch.com: What should readers take away from your report?
Response: One take-away message is that the genetic markers associated with CAD in persons without diabetes have a similar effect in people with diabetes. Another is that prediction of increased risk of CAD in people with diabetes can be improved with the combination of genetic markers with “classic” known markers of CAD such as high cholesterol and high blood pressure. Improving cardiovascular risk prediction will allow physicians to focus their effort on people at higher risk, making the allocation of health-care resources more efficient.
MedicalResearch.com: What recommendations do you have for future research as a result of this work?
Response: We were able to replicate our findings (from the ACCORD trial) in another study including diabetic patients with similar characteristics (the ORIGIN trial). However, to improve the generalizability of the genetic risk score, its performance should be tested in populations with different clinical characteristics. With the detailed information provided in the paper, other researchers should be able to do this. Also, the genetic score reported in our paper applies to Whites as it was derived from genetic markers discovered in that ethnic group. It would be important to build a similar genetic risk score for people of different ancestry using genetic markers specific to those populations.
MedicalResearch.com: Is there anything else you would like to add?
Response: We showed in the paper that the identification of an increasing number of genetic markers of CAD risk over the last 8 years has resulted into a progressive improvement in the performance of genetic risk scores for prediction of CAD risk. Thus, if new genetic markers of CAD continue to be identified over the next few years, the usefulness of these genetic scores may continue to increase.
Citation:
Genetic Tools for Coronary Risk Assessment in Type 2 Diabetes: A Cohort Study From the ACCORD Clinical Trial
Mario Luca Morieri, He Gao, Marie Pigeyre, Hetal S. Shah, Jennifer Sjaarda, Christine Mendonca,Timothy Hastings, Patinut Buranasupkajorn, Alison A. Motsinger-Reif, Daniel M. Rotroff, Ronald J. Sigal,Santica M. Marcovina, Peter Kraft, John B. Buse, Michael J. Wagner, Hertzel C. Gerstein, Josyf C. Mychaleckyj, Guillaume Parè and Alessandro Doria
Diabetes Care 2018 Sep; dc180709.https://doi.org/10.2337/dc18-0709
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Last Updated on September 29, 2018 by Marie Benz MD FAAD