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Associations between type 2 diabetes mellitus and arterial stiffness: A prospective analysis based on the Maine–Syracuse study. Pulse 2017; 5: 88–98. 22. Faqir MI, Born´e Y, Ostling G, Kennback C, Gottsater M, Persson M, et al. Arterial Stiffness and incidence of diabetes: a population-based cohort study. Diabetes Care 2017; 40: 1739–1745. 23. Safar ME, Asmar R, Benetos A, Blacher J, Boutouyrie P, Lacolley P, et al. Interaction between hypertension and arterial stiffness: an expert reappraisal. Hypertension 2018; 72: 796–805. 24. Jankowski P. Value of arterial stiffness in predicting cardiovascular events and mortality. Medicographia 2015; 37(4): 399–403. 25. Mitchell G, Parise H, Benjamin E, Larson M, Keyes M, Vita J, et al. Changes in arterial stiffness and wave reflection with advancing age in healthy men and women. Hypertension 2004; 43: 1239–1244. 26. Boutouyrie P, Vermeersch SJ. Determinants of pulse wave velocity in healthy people and in the presence of cardiovascular risk factors: ‘establishing normal and reference values’. Eur Heart J 2010; 31: 2338–2350. New gene-editing treatment cuts dangerous cholesterol in small study The treatment of a handful of patients with severe heart disease, who volunteered for an experimental cholesterollowering treatment using gene editing, has paved the way for the potential transformation of preventive cardiology, say experts. The patients, who suffered from heart attacks and pain, had been unable get their cholesterol as low as cardiologists recommended, despite trying all available medications. So, they volunteered for the experimental treatment that was unlike anything tried in patients before. The New York Times reports that the result, released by the company Verve Therapeutics of Boston at a meeting of the American Heart Association, showed that the treatment appeared to reduce cholesterol levels markedly in patients and that it appeared to be safe. The trial involved only 10 patients, with an average age of 54 years. Each had a genetic abnormality, familial hypercholesterolaemia, that affects around one million people in the United States. But the findings could also point the way for millions of other patients around the world who are contending with heart disease, which remains a leading cause of death. And while more trials in a broader range of patients will need to be carried out, gene-editing experts and cardiologists said the treatment could transform preventative cardiology. ‘Even for seasoned veterans of this field like me, this is a day we will look back on,’ said Fyodor Urnov, a gene editor at the Innovative Genomics Institute in Berkeley, California. ‘It’s like crossing a Rubicon, in a good way. This is not a small step. It is a leap into new territory.’ Impressed with the data and the potential, pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly has paid $60m to collaborate with Verve Therapeutics and opted to acquire additional rights to Verve’s programmes for an additional $250m. If the editing continues to look promising, Eli Lilly expects to help with larger studies. ‘Until now, we thought of gene editing as a treatment we should reserve for very rare diseases where there is no other treatment,’ said Dr Daniel Skovronsky, Eli Lilly’s chief scientific and medical officer. ‘But if we can make gene editing safe and widely available, why not go after a more common disease?’ The study was led by Dr Sekar Kathiresan, chief executive of Verve. Patients received a single infusion of microscopic lipid nanoparticles containing within them a molecular factory to edit a single gene in the liver, the site of cholesterol synthesis. The gene, PCSK9, raises levels of LDL cholesterol, the bad kind. The plan was to block it. The little lipid spheres were carried through the blood directly to the liver. They entered the liver cells and opened up, revealing two molecules. One instructs the DNA to make a gene-editing tool, and the other is a guide to take the editing tool to the gene that needs editing. continued on page 34…
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