Gene may trigger race-medicine debate

REYKJAVIK, Iceland, Nov 11, 2005 (UPI via COMTEX) -- An Icelandic company says it has discovered a version of a gene that indicates an increased risk of heart attack in African-Americans.

DeCode Genetics said it first found the variant gene among Icelanders and then found it among Americans in three cities: Philadelphia, Cleveland and Atlanta.

Among Americans of European ancestry, the variant is quite common, but it indicates an increased risk of heart attack in about 16 percent, while it indicates an increases risk for African-Americans by more than 250 percent, reported The New York Times Friday.

Last year, a drug that inhibits a different but closely related gene evoked mixed reactions after it was shown to sharply reduce heart attacks among African-Americans, but failed to show efficacy in the general population. The drug prompted objections that race-based medicine was the wrong approach in medicine.

DeCode scientists led by Dr. Anna Helgadottir reported the findings in an article released online by Nature Genetics.

URL: www.upi.com