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Review
. 2023 Sep 8;12(18):2232.
doi: 10.3390/cells12182232.

The Genetics of Coronary Artery Disease: A Vascular Perspective

Leon N K Quaye  1 , Catherine E Dalzell  1 , Panos Deloukas  1 , Andrew J P Smith  1
Affiliations
Review

The Genetics of Coronary Artery Disease: A Vascular Perspective

Leon N K Quaye et al. Cells. .

Abstract

Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified a large number of genetic loci for coronary artery disease (CAD), with many located close to genes associated with traditional CAD risk pathways, such as lipid metabolism and inflammation. It is becoming evident with recent CAD GWAS meta-analyses that vascular pathways are also highly enriched and present an opportunity for novel therapeutics. This review examines GWAS-enriched vascular gene loci, the pathways involved and their potential role in CAD pathogenesis. The functionality of variants is explored from expression quantitative trait loci, massively parallel reporter assays and CRISPR-based gene-editing tools. We discuss how this research may lead to novel therapeutic tools to treat cardiovascular disorders.

Keywords: CRISPR-based gene-editing tools; GWAS risk loci; coronary artery disease; expression quantitative trait loci; massively parallel reporter assay; vascular pathways.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
CAD GWAS genes implicated in vascular processes though knockout mouse models. Data adapted from Aragam et al. [11].
Figure 2
Figure 2
Genes from CAD GWAS studies are implicated in a number of vascular-related processes, including endothelial and smooth muscle cell dysfunction, neovascularisation, angiogenesis, tube formation, and extracellular matrix remodelling. Many of these genes are likely to be involved in several vascular processes.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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