A research team from CUHK Medical School conducted a genetic comparison between 3,596 diabetic patients with coronary heart disease and 8,898 local diabetic patients without coronary heart disease, and analyzed the data with the genetic data of over 500,000 people worldwide, and successfully discovered a new gene marker named “PDE1A rs10171703”.
The study found that “PDE1A rs10171703” is associated with high blood pressure, which is closely related to the risk of heart disease. Type 2 diabetes patients carrying this genetic marker have a higher chance of developing heart disease or cardiovascular diseases by about 20 percent.
Professor Ronald S.H.Ma, Ho Professor of Diabetes and Head (Academic Affairs) of the Division of Endocrinology and Diabetes at CU Medicine, and Principal Investigator of the Hong Kong Diabetes Biobank said that heart disease is the main reason for hospitalization or poor health among diabetes patients. Diabetes is an independent risk factor for heart disease. This new genetic marker discovered in this study can help identify diabetic patients with a high risk of heart disease and develop personalized treatment plans.
Professor Juliana Chan, Chair Professor of Medicine and Therapeutics at CU Medicine and Founding Director of the Hong Kong Institute of Diabetes and Obesity, pointed out that using this genetic marker can identify diabetic patients with a higher risk of heart disease and encourage them to improve their blood pressure and other risk factors to reduce their chances of developing heart disease. If these patients can properly manage their blood pressure to an optimal level, their risk of developing cardiovascular diseases can be reduced by 40 percent.
