Mutation found that cures heart disease

djf, with references

[djf]

In 1980, a man from a small town called Limone Sul Garda in northern Italy went to a doctor for some problem, not heart related.



Testing of his blood showed very high levels of triglycerides, and very low levels of HDL, the good form of cholesterol. By all rights, the man should have either been dead from, or in imminent danger of a heart attack.

But his arteries were clear.
Analysis of his blood showed he had a very special form of Lipoprotein, a type of HDL. And further work with this particular type of Lipoprotein revealed astounding results.

In some of the initial small scale tests of this form of HDL, volunteers were given one shot a week of it, for a trial that lasted five weeks.

Measurements of the blockage in their arteries showed that total blockage was reduced by 4% in five weeks. While this may not sound like much, to a cardiologist, it's equivalent to taking years off of your cardiac age.

Further testing and analysis with animals show fantastic results. While standard HDL's are desirable, this substance has been shown to for all intents and purposes, to completely reverse heart disease.

Various articles have referred to it as "Drano for the arteries".

Research is continuing with a slightly modified, bioengineered form and results are extremely promising.

The cholesterol (and yes, it is cholesterol) that is saving these people's lives is called ApoA-Milano.

And of the forty or fifty people in that tiny Italian town, all descended from a man born in 1760, a man who had a small change in his genes, not a single one has yet to die from heart disease!


http://www.lbl.gov/Science-Articles/Archive/LSD-Milano-Bielicki.html
http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2006-01-08-heart-disease-cover_x.htm
http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/abstract/290/17/2292

There are 96 references on PubMed for apoa milano

[FreeKeys]

I had heard of these people a couple of decades ago and lost all my references. THANK YOU SO MUCH for finding and posting it!

[Drango]

Well if this is related to protein "misfolding"...

If I can thread poach a little... I know some of the people on this thread are already "FOLDING" but for those who aren't, there is now a major project by FReepers and others regarding protein folding and distributed computing. The effort is dedicated to Ronald Reagan.

http://vspx27.stanford.edu/cgi-bin/main.py?qtype=teampage&teamnum=36120

FReepers are ranked nationally (almost top 400) in our efforts to help this massive science project. Please join us if you would like to contribute and "Fold one for the Gipper". Here is one of several threads that can help point you to start donating your unused CPUs if you are interested.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/1558526/posts

[FreeKeys]

I seem to remember some folks in Okinawa also have a life-lengthening gene of some kind. Anybody got something on that?

[kAcknor]

the prophecy says the one who leads humanity back to Earth is going to die....

Yes, but I'm sure there nowhere in the prophacy does it say WHEN.

It's in the script!

[djf]

I understand what you are saying, and I suppose I could call it semantics. But that is not the major issue, if you ask folks about their cholesterol, many will say "My LDL is yadayada..." so it's a common part of the nomenclature.

And if you never ever ate a single food containing cholesterol, your liver would make some for ya!

And in fact you NEED cholesterol, because sitting in the sun converts some of your cholesterol to chole-calciferol, otherwise known as vitamin D3. And the recent findings with vitamin D and cancer are almost as stunning as this one. I think cholesterol plays a role in collagen synthesis too.

[Walkingfeather]

ping

[Myrddin]

Check your CRP (C-Reactive Protein)....that COULD matter more than cholesterol

I had an "attack" that may have been rheumatoid arthritis. The local doctors didn't think about a blood test to check for C reactive protein for two weeks. Too late. It peaks in the first 36 hours of the attack and drops off rapidly.

My local medical community isn't real sharp. I really hate getting sick because the first big trip to the doctor plants a big $1500 co-pay (my annual minimum) bill in my mailbox. A big bill and no definitive diagnosis or treatment.

[GladesGuru]

DNA simply is, genetics simply is, competition simply is, and, Virginia, there are aspects of the above which are superior to others.

How the gene pool is cleaned also makes a difference. Nazi-style genetic programs are a far cry from the research being discussed here.

[goodnesswins]

You're talking to the choir.....I've been through "interesting times" in the past 18 months with 6 different doctors.....4 of whom said I had RA or Fibromyalgia.....HA....went and found myself a "new age" doc.....got me some good bio-id hormones and the right kind of thyroid meds.....and VOILA....along with vitamins and minerals, I walk 3-4 miles (FAST) a day, and no longer hobble around.....but, it cost us BIG time.....although we are learning how to play the "insurance" game. Best of luck to you. You gotta MANAGE your OWN health CARE!

[Myrddin]

I "fixed" my problem by purchasing a treadmill at Sears and walking every night for months. The swelling in my legs cleared up. I was somewhat concerned as the swelling in my legs resembled a classic case of congestive heart failure. My oldest son put up with this for 6 months before his last open heart surgery replaced his aortic valve and took care of the problem. Still no answers. I just bought a membership at Gold's gym. They decided to build a facility in Pocatello. The new facility will have a pool, saunas, racquetball courts in addition to the weight/cardio facility. The monthly fee is $25. I can't keep a pool maintained in my own yard for that kind of money.

[Lancey Howard]

Interesting. Thanks for posting.

[Ichneumon]

Isn't it possible that those without the beneficial cholesterol are the result of a mutation? Perhaps this man is not a "hopeful monster" but a dinosaur that has outlived (figuratively speaking) his contemporaries.

All six billion of us inferior mutants on the planet made it, and only a handful of the folks with the "good" genes are left and all stuck in a town in Italy, eh?

Sorry, your scenario is unworkable.

[js1138]

placemarker

[Ichneumon]

I've heard this before from friends and I have to agree, both with the statement that the gene pool is getting weakened as *bad* genes are allowed to be passed on and that it is not a popular statement. I'm one who would've been removed from the gene pool if it weren't for modern medicine and I take no offense at it. It's the truth. Say, perhaps what this guy has ISN'T the mutation. Maybe the mutation is what everyone else has that causes the high LDL and cholesterol buildup and this is the original *good* genes that are either recessive or so rare that they only still show up in a few individuals. They might be looking at it backwards.

That's not how population genetics works.

[Ichneumon]

This sort of thing happens more often than people might think -- families who are found to have a rather recently mutated gene which turns out to give some beneficial advantage. Evolution in action.

[kublia khan]

I'm sorry but the theory based on evolution is a possibility, and the fact that the Gene is evident in one particular geographic location does not detract from the possibility but rather strengthens it.

[djf]

True. But sadly, in this particular case, the benefit comes too late in life for it to have an effect on the population dynamics.

Unless them Italians start getting real randy when they're like seventy or so...

[orionblamblam]

> Isn't it possible that those without the beneficial cholesterol are the result of a mutation?

Possibly. More detailed examination of the DNA would show one way or the other. However, the fact that it's rare and can be traced argues to this being a new mutation.

[Uriah_lost]

I remember reading up on this some years ago. At the time they were trying to isolate the protein so they could figure out how to produce it in quantity. I hadn't heard any updates and assumed it had been a dry hole. I'm hoping that this is a sign that this may still be a viable treatment option some time in the future(sooner better than later) Thanks for putting this up.

[Uriah_lost]

My memory on this could be faulty, but I seem to remember that a study of the population of this town in Italy was able to trace the gene in question to a single common ancestor not that many generations ago. It would appear that, in this case, the continued diversification of our species is going to point the way.
For those wanting to turn this into another flame war on the evolution topic, be aware that this is not the rise of a new species. This is only an adaptation in an existing species and neither proves nor disproves evolution or creation.