Researchers investigating the biochemical characteristics behind several everyday diseases have discovered a new chromosomal region to be strongly associated with the bad cholesterol, low density lipoprotein, (LDL). High levels of LDL are considered a major risk factor for the development of coronary heart disease ?the UK’s biggest killer. The study, published today (10 January, 2008) in the American Journal of Human Genetics, reveals the biological mechanism for the previous association of this region with coronary heart disease, and could pave the way towards developing new therapies for the disease which each year claims the lives of one in four men, and one in six women.
