Cardiovascular Diseases Remain the First Cause of Mortality in the World

Curbing Atherosclerosis and Precision Medicine are the Main Strategies to Transform the Landscape of Treatments to Prevent Heart Attacks and Strokes

TORONTO, Oct. 26, 2015 /CNW Telbec/ - Cardiovascular diseases are responsible for the largest number of deaths in the world. "Curbing atherosclerosis will require a multi-faceted approach targeting LDL-cholesterol, high-density lipoproteins (HDL) and probably inflammation", explained Dr. Jean-Claude Tardif, Director of the Famille Desmarais Research Center at the Montreal Heart Institute, Professor of Medicine at the University of Montreal and holder of the Canada Research Chair in personalized medicine, as he accepted the award of the Canadian Institutes for Health Research's ICRH Distinguished Lecture in Cardiovascular Sciences, at the Canadian Cardiovascular Congress where thousands of delegates are currently gathered.

"Precision medicine will transform our approach to patients by moving away from the one size fits all practice as we better understand the genetic and molecular basis of cardiovascular diseases. Patients' different genetic profiles will lead the same drug to be very useful in some but ineffective or even harmful in others", explained further Dr Tardif. One example discussed was dalcetrapib, which was shown by his Montreal Heart Institute group to potentially reduce hard cardiovascular events by 39% and induce atherosclerosis regression in patients with a specific genetic profile (AA genotype at marker rs1967309 in the adenylate cyclase ADCY9 gene). These large benefits appear to be explained by a major increase in cholesterol efflux from white blood cells and a significant decrease in C-reactive protein (a marker of inflammation) in the "AA" patients only when treated with dalcetrapib.

The Dal-Gene study, which requires recruitment of 5000 "AA" patients with a recent acute coronary syndrome, holds great potential to result in the first cardiovascular personalized therapy for atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease with pharmacogenomics-guided dalcetrapib treatment.

About the Montreal Heart Institute

Founded in 1954 by Dr. Paul David, the Montreal Heart Institute constantly aims for the highest standards of excellence in the cardiovascular field through its leadership in clinical and basic research, ultra-specialized care, professional training and prevention. It is affiliated with the Université de Montréal.

About the Montreal Heart Institute Foundation

The mission of the Montreal Heart Institute Foundation is to raise and administer funds to support the Institute's priority and innovative projects and help its fight against cardiovascular disease, the number-one cause of death worldwide. Since its creation in 1977, the Foundation has donated almost $200 million to the Montreal Heart Institute.

SOURCE Institut de Cardiologie de Montréal

Lise Plante, MBA, Director of Communications, Montreal Heart Institute Foundation, Tél. : [phone] ext. 3898, [email protected] | facebook.com/institutcardiologiemontreal, @ICMtl, https://www.icm-mhi.org/en/foundation; Marie-Eve Arsenault, Communication Advisor, Montreal Heart Institute Foundation, Tél.: [phone] ext. 2641, [email protected], facebook.com/institutcardiologiemontreal, @ICMtl, https://www.icm-mhi.org/en/foundation