Abstract
A polygenic risk score, developed by Italian health tech company Allelica, can identify people who may be at increased risk for heart disease despite having normal levels of LDL cholesterol.
Most cardiovascular disease assessments primarily look at factors such as LDL cholesterol – high levels predict increased future risk for heart disease. These individuals may be prescribed statin drugs to lower LDL cholesterol and help reduce future risk.
“What we found is that more than 10% of people with average LDL have the same risk as people with hypercholesterolemia, for whom statin therapy is recommended,” Allelica CEO Giordano Bottà, Ph.D., told Clinical Omics.
As reported in the journal Circulation, Bottà and colleagues used bioinformatics techniques combined with information collected from 408,000 individuals from the UK Biobank to build their polygenic risk score (PRS).
Taking standard risk factors like LDL cholesterol level into account, the team found that people with average LDL cholesterol levels (130-160 mg/dL) and a high PRS score had the same risk for developing coronary artery disease as those with hypercholesterolemia (LDL cholesterol above 190mg/dL) and an intermediate PRS score.