Prevention of cardiovascular disease

Each year in Germany alone, around 300,000 people suffer a heart attack, 80,000 have a stroke and 20,000 need to be treated for kidney failure. High blood pressure, excess weight and obesity play a major role in the development of these diseases. According to the WHO, around 250,000 people die of cardiovascular disease in Europe each year as the direct result of obesity; worldwide, the number is between two and five million. Scientists at the MDC have been studying the genetic causes of cardiovascular and metabolic diseases in order to develop new approaches to their prevention, diagnosis and treatment. They have been examining the role played by individual genes in the pathogenesis of the diseases and comparing the genomes of model organisms and humans in order to chart out pathogenic mechanisms. Their work has resulted in a preventive treatment for young men at risk of sudden cardiac death. Together with researchers from the Netherlands and Great Britain, Associate Professor Sabine Klaassen and Professor Ludwig Thierfelder of the MDC have demonstrated that the Ebstein's anomaly, a rare congenital valvular heart disease, has a genetic cause. In its advanced stage, the disease causes an enlargement of the right side of the heart and restricted cardiac function. The researchers hope that their findings will lead to quicker diagnosis procedures and new and more targeted treatments. In addition, MDC researchers are using systems biology to elucidate the regulation of genes and proteins and their interactions. Their methods also include innovative imaging techniques such as magnetic resonance imaging as well as epidemiology. The MDC is taking part in a study of 200,000 people to examine the causes of cardiovascular disease, diabetes and other illnesses, to identify risk factors for these diseases and to develop new methods of prevention.

Andreas Fischer