INTEGRATION OF GENOMICS AND CARDIOMETABOLIC PLASMA BIOMARKERS FOR IMPROVED PREDICTION AND PRIMARY PREVENTION OF CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASE

Projektinformationen

CARDIOPREVENT

ID Finanzhilfevereinbarung: 282255

Projekt abgeschlossen

Startdatum 1 Dezember 2011

Enddatum 30 November 2016

Finanziert unter

• Specific programme: "Ideas" implementing the Seventh Framework Programme of the European Community for research, technological development and demonstration activities (2007 to 2013)

Gesamtkosten € 1 500 000,00

EU-Beitrag € 1 500 000,00

Koordiniert durch

LUNDS UNIVERSITET
Sweden

Final Report Summary - CARDIOPREVENT (INTEGRATION OF GENOMICS AND CARDIOMETABOLIC PLASMA BIOMARKERS FOR IMPROVED PREDICTION AND PRIMARY PREVENTION OF CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASE)

The over-all aims of the project were to improve prediction and prevention of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and to unravel novel mechanisms underlying CVD susceptibility.

We showed that the agggregated effect of 50 genetic CVD susceptibility variants is a strong novel and independent risk factor for CVD which identifies hidden high-risk individuals, i.e. individuals who cannot be found using traditional risk factors. Importantly, not only were we able to identify hidden high risk individuals but we also showed that the genetic risk can be partially reversed by certain life style treatments and with statin therapy. These findings have contributed significantly both to prediction and prevention of CVD.

Through GWAS findings, we identified the neurotensin system as as novel factor behind development of obesity, diabetes and CVD. We showed that neurotensin acts to absorb fat from the intestine and to accumulate it centrally, which leads to obesity, liver steatosis and insulin restsiance at high fat intake. These findings offer a novel mechanistic explanation to why obesity occurs in some but not all individuals ahigh fat intake and it also provides a link to obesity related comorbidities (diabetes and CVD) as well as a potential treatment target in blockade of neurotensin.

We also showed that high concentration of vasopressin (measured with copeptin) is a strong risk factor for diabetes, metabolic syndrome, CVD and premature mortality and our animal experiments stronly supports that the link between high level of vasopressin and cardiometabolic diseases is causal. As low water intake is the most common cause of high vasopressin concentration in the population, the project has highlighted water supplementation as a completely novel life-style therapy in reducing risk of diabetes and CVD.