A new study has shown that there's a sort of cholesterol gene, or rather a mutation of one, that could potentially hold the key to protecting the body against heart attacks, high cholesterol and illnesses associated with those afflictions.
According to different news outlets around the world including the BBC, the findings of a new cholesterol gene might be vital in the future treatment of illnesses related to high cholesterol, such as heart disease and the like.
It seems that the discovery of this cholesterol gene, in reality a mutation of the NPC1L1 gene (an error, as a matter of fact), could lead to patients reducing their chance of cholesterol issues in half, as stated by the new finding.
The study, called "Inactivating Mutations in NPC1L1 and Protection from Coronary Heart Disease" and published in scientific magazine The New England Journal of Medicine, sequenced the genetic code of exactly 22,000 people and then identified 34 people that had different errors in their code, such as the cholesterol gene.
The series of studies that led to the published result analyzed almost 100,000 people, and ended up identifying 15 different rare genetic mutations, which ultimately block the activity of one particular gene, the Niemann-Pick C1-Like 1 (also know as NPC1L1), according to Forbes.
The presence of the cholesterol gene, which in reality means having just one copy of the NPC1L1 (as opposed to the two copies most human beings possess), meant that the people had levels of LDL cholesterol much lower than those with the regular genetic composition: there was a 53% reduction in CHD risk for those carrying the mutation.
According to Irish newspaper The Independent, the findings of the cholesterol gene has already given foot to the development of a cholesterol-fighting drug, ezetimibe, which works differently than other medication for the condition.
The new findings of the cholesterol gene could potentially mean a massive breakthrough in health, particularly in the development of cardiac and cholesterol medication.