MOLECULAR-GENETIC INSIGHTS INTO CARDIOVASCULAR-DISEASE

The recent application of molecular genetic tools to inherited forms o f cardiovascular disease has provided important insight into the molec ular mechanisms underlying cardiac arrhythmias, cardiomyopathies, and vascular diseases. These studies point to defects in ion channels, con tractile proteins, structural proteins, and signaling molecules as key players in disease pathogenesis. Genetic testing is now available for a subset of inherited cardiovascular diseases, and new mechanism-base d therapies may be available in the near future. This remarkable progr ess and the implications it may have for more common forms of cardiova scular disease are reviewed here.