NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – Gene expression in peripheral-blood mononuclear cells appears to be useful in determining the presence and extent of coronary artery disease (CAD), according to a small study of angiography patients.

“A blood-based test to diagnose CAD would be less invasive and risky and would prevent patients from radiation exposure,” senior author Dr. William E. Kraus, from Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, said in a statement. “Patients who receive a positive test result might be able to short-circuit additional preliminary evaluations and head directly to coronary catheterization.”

The study, reported in the October issue of Circulation: Cardiovascular Genetics, featured a genetic analysis of blood cells obtained from 27 patients with angiographically significant CAD and from 14 controls without CAD.

Initially, the researchers identified 526 genes with a >1.3-fold difference in expression between case patients and controls (p < 0.05). Further testing whittled the number down to 14 genes that independently discriminated CAD patients from those without disease. The predictive value of the 14 genes was validated in a second cohort of 215 catheterization patients. This analysis also showed that the degree of gene expression was directly proportional to the amount of coronary stenosis (p < 0.001). Dr. Kraus said that at this point, “we do not know if these genes cause CAD in any way or if their altered expression is in response to the disease. What we do know, however, is that their collective ‘signature’ is clearly associated with the presence of CAD.” Reference:
Circ Cardiovasc Genet 2008;1:31-38.