The emerging role of epigenetics in cardiovascular disease

Abstract

There is a worldwide epidemic of cardiovascular diseases causing not only a public health issue but also accounting for trillions of dollars of healthcare expenditure. Studies pertaining to epidemiology, pathophysiology, molecular biology, gene identification and genetic linkage maps have been able to lay a strong foundation for both the diagnosis and treatment of cardiovascular medicine. Although the concept of 'epigenetics' is not recent, the term in current usage is extended from the initial concept of 'controlling developmental gene expression and signaling pathways in undifferentiated zygotes' to include heritable changes to gene expression that are not from differences in the genetic code. The impact of epigenetics in cardiovascular disease is now emerging as an important regulatory key player at different levels from pathophysiology to therapeutics. This review focuses on the emerging role of epigenetics in major cardiovascular medicine specialties such as coronary artery disease, heart failure, cardiac hypertrophy and diabetes.

Maternal High-Fat Diet Exaggerates Atherosclerosis in Adult Offspring by Augmenting Periaortic Adipose Tissue-Specific Proinflammatory Response

“…[17][18][19][20] Epigenetic changes detected in the atherosclerotic lesions have been characteristic of smooth muscle cells and of endothelial cells as well as immune cells. 44,45 We, therefore, examined the mRNA expression levels of VCAM-1 and ICAM-1 in the aorta of 8-week-old offspring and found that VCAM-1 mRNA expression was significantly reduced in O-HFD ( Figure VIII in the online-only Data Supplement), suggesting that endothelial dysfunction is not likely to be involved in offspring atherosclerosis in this model.…”

“…[12][13][14][15][16] Nutrient status during fetal development has been shown to modulate genes expression in offspring adipose tissue without alterations in the DNA sequence, which commonly is referred to as epigenetic programing. [17][18][19][20] However, the underlying mechanism by which developmental modifications of adipose tissue promotes atherosclerosis in offspring remains to be fully elucidated.…”

Computational modelling folate metabolism and DNA methylation: implications for understanding health and ageing

“…For instance, Wang et al (2016) [32] recently found that DNA methylation changes during ageing were closely correlated to the occurrence of cancer. In addition to cancer, aberrant DNA methylation has an emerging role to play in many age-related diseases, including cardiovascular disease (CVD) [33], Alzheimer's disease [34] and osteoporosis/osteoarthritis [35]. Such findings consolidate the growing view that DNA methylation status and health span are inexorably entwined.…”

Nutrigenomics, the Microbiome, and Gene-Environment Interactions: New Directions in Cardiovascular Disease Research, Prevention, and Treatment

“…138 Such diets have long been linked to CVD, but the finding that they act via epigenetic mechanisms is intriguing and represents an area for future investigation. Several studies have found evidence of epigenetic changes that alter cardiometabolic disease risk, [139][140][141] including defects in endothelial cell function, abnormal blood flow, inflammation, and plaque formation. [142][143][144][145][146][147] Identification and characterization of common epigenetic outcomes linked to disease manifestations and their interaction with nutrient status may allow the development of specific treatment and intervention measures.…”