|
Showing 1 - 3 of
3 matches in All Departments
Between 1950 and 1960, remarkable advances were made in the
develQpment Qf antihypertensive drugs, but since then, prQgress has
been less rapid. This dQes nQt mean that no. new drugs have been
intrQduced: Qn the cQntrary, their number has increased sharply;
but since the advent Qf the beta-adrenergic blQckers no. new
pharmacQdynamic principle has been discQvered that CQuid be applied
widely as an antihypertensive. This has nQt been fQr want Qf
effQrts, because many attempts have been made to. find new ways and
means Qf influencing blQQd- pressure regulatiQn Qr the mechanisms
invQlved in the pathQgenesis Qf hypertensiQn. HQwever, the results
Qf these endeavQrs have mQstly been disapPQinting. Even thQugh high
blQQd pressure can be treated mQre satisfactQrily tQday than many
Qther diseases, the success achieved in cQmbating Qne Qf man's mQst
frequent ailments shQuld nQt induce cQmplacency, but rather
stimulate research tQwards further imprQvements. The present
standstill affQrds an QPPQrtunity to. review the field Qf antihy-
pertensive agents, fQr it is unlikely that fundamentally new drugs
will appear in the near future. AlthQugh greater knQwledge has been
gained Qf the mechanisms Qf blQQd-pressure regulatiQn and Qf the
pathQgenesis Qf hypertensiQn, these ad- vances have had no. direct
cQnsequences in the search fQr new therapeutics.
Cardiovascular disease and mortality risk are significantly
increased in people with metabolic syndrome, a cluster of
interrelated metabolic disorders including obesity, insulin
resistance, glucose intolerance, dyslipidemia and hypertension. A
complex interplay between predisposing and protective factors
ultimately determines whether an individual will develop this set
of disorders or not. Genetic factors are one of the significant
contributors that predispose to, or protect against, each component
of the metabolic syndrome. As in other complex diseases and traits,
such genetic factors are likely to be multiple and interacting,
with individual polymorphisms producing only a moderate effect. The
identification of genetic variants influencing the metabolic
syndrome is of great importance to understanding pathogenesis,
identifying groups of individuals with different relative risk, and
developing or improving therapies against this cluster of metabolic
disorders. This has greatly stimulated both theoretical and applied
genetic research in recent years. A range of new analytical tools
has been developed for the dissection of complex traits. Applied
genetic analyses have identified large numbers of candidate markers
and chromosomal regions (over 600 for obesity, which represents
only one of the disorders of this cluster). In this chapter, the
authors present a basic overview of the genetic approaches
currently used for the identification of candidate genetic factors
involved in the metabolic syndrome. The authors also summarise
current evidence suggesting that genetic variants within elements
of the endocrine system are directly involved in the risk of the
metabolic syndrome. The authors focused their attention on
endocrine pathways for which candidate genetic variants have been
identified, and they introduced the foundations of a new hypothesis
which postulates the involvement of a network of endocrine genetic
setpoints as a combined contributor to the risk of the metabolic
syndrome.
|
|