Sammanfattning
The new era of whole genome scan analyses has opened new possibilities for a better understanding of the pathophysiology of cardiovascular disease. With examples from coronary heart disease, stroke, lipid metabolism, hypertension and type 2 diabetes, it is obvious that the knowledge-base for insights into genetic regulation has increased considerably during the last few years. Still, however, there is no optimal prediction instrument for future cardiovascular events based on the presently known genetic markers, making old fashioned risk markers unnecessary, even if progress is being made. This is because that the added value of genetic prediction is not great on the individual level for most people, even if high-risk subjects from certain families might have a greater benefit from using genetic prediction scores. On the other hand, the new understanding of cardiovascular genetics could be of considerable importance to find new pathways and to tailor new drugs to specifically intervene on these pathways and associated receptors. This might prove to be one of the most important contributions of cardiovascular genetics to clinical medicine, in a similar way to what was achieved by the development of statin therapy based on the molecular understanding of the LDL-receptor and the genetic regulation of LDL cholesterol levels.