This Research Topic was accompanied by a symposium held in Lübeck, Germany
on January 12th, 2018. The agenda can still be found here.
Genome-wide
association (GWA) studies, as a prototype of large-scale OMICs studies, have
advanced our understanding of the genetic basis of many common diseases. With
respect to coronary artery disease (CAD) and cardiovascular risk factors, like
lipids, blood pressure or BMI, they have identified hundreds of chromosomal
loci that modulate disease risk. Despite their scientific success, GWA studies
have been criticized for having failed so far in delivering diagnostically or
therapeutically relevant products.
However, the ability to achieve such goals has been strengthened recently by further layers of OMICs-based data, including large-scale transcriptomics data, and better annotation of regulatory sequences and epigenetic changes in the genome (e.g. through the ENCODE project), as well as novel tools for bioinformatics analysis, allowing a systems medicine based approach to be applied.
All in all, the last decade with its “gold rush of genomic discovery” led to the identification of known and novel pathways involved in the pathogenesis of cardiovascular diseases and point to novel treatment targets.
However, the ability to achieve such goals has been strengthened recently by further layers of OMICs-based data, including large-scale transcriptomics data, and better annotation of regulatory sequences and epigenetic changes in the genome (e.g. through the ENCODE project), as well as novel tools for bioinformatics analysis, allowing a systems medicine based approach to be applied.
All in all, the last decade with its “gold rush of genomic discovery” led to the identification of known and novel pathways involved in the pathogenesis of cardiovascular diseases and point to novel treatment targets.
The aim of
this Research Topic was to gather contributions from scientists working in the
field of cardiovascular genetics who have common interests in understanding the
pathomechanisms linking genetic association findings and disease to finally
translate the findings from large-scale genetic studies into novel treatment
options.
The Research Topic: "From GWAS hits to treatment targets" can now be
downloaded as an eBook
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