"Varicose veins genes"
The connection of varicose veins with a number of genes and human intelligence has been established
Siberian scientists for the first time in the world conducted a large-scale study of the genetic causes of varicose veins, which discovered genes and proteins involved in the pathological process, and also showed the connection of varicose veins with intelligence. The article was published in the journal PLOS Genetics (Shadrina et al., Varicose veins of lower extremities: Insights from the first large-scale genetic study).
Biologists of the Institute of Cytology and Genetics SB RAS and Novosibirsk State University studied the genetic data of more than 400 thousand Europeans taken from the open biobank of Great Britain. Scientists have identified nine genes (CASZ1, PIEZO1, PPP3R1, EBF1, STIM2, HFE, GATA2, NFATC2 and SOX9) and two proteins (MICB and CD209) associated with varicose veins and which may serve as targets for drugs in the future.
Single-nucleotide polymorphisms in the studied genes and their relationship (positive or negative) with various signs affecting the development of varicose veins – VM.
"We believe that the most valuable component of our work in a practical sense is data on proteins, including those encoded in genes associated with varicose veins. Now experimental work should follow, confirming or refuting the role of these proteins. If the effect of the protein on varicose transformation is confirmed and it is possible to select a substance aimed at this protein, we can expect interest from pharmaceutical companies and a cycle of preclinical and clinical studies," says Alexandra Sergeevna Shadrina, a senior researcher at FITZ ICiG SB RAS, Candidate of Biological Sciences.
Scientists have also found that at the genetic level there is a connection between varicose veins and various characteristics, diseases, and lifestyle of a person. Some of these factors have already been associated with varicose veins before based on epidemiological studies – for example, venous thrombosis, overweight, heavy physical work. Others surprised researchers, in particular: intelligence, memory, level of education, smoking, height, number of operations, pain throughout the body and arthrosis of the knee joint.
"We can only assume the mechanisms of the genetic connection between the traits so far. In the case of the intellectual level (and for him the correlation with varicose veins is reversed), theoretically it can be like this: high intelligence allows a person to engage in mental labor and avoid hard physical work. However, it cannot be said that a person is less intelligent if he has varicose veins, or that if he is smart, he will not have this disease. This is an average pattern, smeared across the entire population studied by us, while rather weak, although its presence is beyond doubt," comments Alexandra Shadrina.
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