Understanding the genetics of coronary artery disease through the lens of noninvasive imaging

Abstract

Coronary artery disease is a common condition with a known heritable component that has spurred interest in genetic research for decades, resulting in a handful of candidate genes and an appreciation for the complexity of its genetic contributions. Recent advances in sequencing technologies have resulted in large-scale association studies, possibly adding to our current understanding of the genetics of coronary artery disease. Sifting through the statistical noise, however, requires the selection of effective phenotypic markers. New imaging technologies have improved our ability to detect subclinical atherosclerosis in a safe and reproducible manner in large numbers of patients. In this article, we propose that advances in imaging technology have generated improved phenotypic markers for genetic association studies of coronary artery disease.

Keywords::

• atherosclerosis
• carotid intima–media thickness
• CCTA
• complex genetic analysis
• coronary artery calcium
• coronary artery disease
• MRI
• noninvasive cardiovascular imaging
• PET
• phenotype

Financial & competing interests disclosure

This research was supported by the NIH intramural research program. E Yang is a medical student research fellow at the NIH; her research was made possible through the Clinical Research Training Program, a public–private partnership supported jointly by the NIH and Pfizer Inc. The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed.

No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.