Heart disease linked to clotting gene
A mutation in a gene for blood clotting dramatically increases the risk of heart disease in black but not white Americans, according to results from an ongoing study of more than 15,000 people.
“To my knowledge this is the first study of coronary heart disease to distinguish between ethnic groups,” says team leader Kenneth K. Wu of the University of Texas in Houston.
The normal form of the gene encodes the protein thrombomodulin, which dots the walls of blood vessels. This protein changes the blood-clotting enzyme thrombin into a form that actually prevents unwelcome clotting. A mutation of the gene derails this function by substituting a single amino acid in thrombomodulin’s structure. Earlier work found a correlation between heart attacks and this mutation but didn’t establish that the mutation causes heart attacks.