A review on cardiovascular genetics and its <em>in silico</em> methods

Abstract

Cardiovascular disease (CVD), encompassing a range of disease from myocardial infarction to congenital heart disease has become an ubiquitous cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. The major cardiovascular diseases, including coronary artery disease, cardiomyopathy, myocardial infarction, cerebrovascular disease and atherosclerosis are due to the multiple environmental and genetic factors and the probable interactions between them. Despite remarkable growth in the understanding of critical cellular and molecular mechanism during the development and pathogenesis of CVD and the improvements in cardiovascular research, current preventive treatments, diagnostic procedures, and therapies for CVD remains insufficient. Even though several research focuses on the genetics of the disease, many cardiovascular genes still awaits to discovery. Identification of these genes, analysing their complex regulatory and metabolic interactions providing in depth insights into the molecular mechanisms behind these diseases is of great importance. This offers tools for genetic counselling, gene therapy, pharmacogenomics and medicine, which attempt to prevent and treat these diseases. To understand fundamental mechanisms of the disease and to develop and target new therapies, information on genetic factors, gene expression and protein expression patterns are essential. Hence, this review focus on the current perspectives in genome wide expression profiling and <em>in</em> <em>silico</em> approaches in analysing gene expression data.