doi: 10.1161/CIRCRESAHA.108.177311
© 2008 American Heart Association, Inc.
Editorials |
An Inconvenient Truth
Recognizing Individual Differences in Arteriogenesis
From the Section of Cardiology, Department of Medicine, University of Chicago, Pritzker School of Medicine, Ill.
Correspondence to Jalees Rehman, MD, Section of Cardiology, University of Chicago Medical Center, 5841 S Maryland Ave, MC 6080, Chicago, IL 60637. E-mail jrehman@medicine.bsd.uchicago.edu
See related article, pages 1286–1294
Key Words: arteriogenesis • angiogenesis • inflammation • interferon-β • monocytes
An extract of the first 250 words of the full text is provided, because this article has no abstract. |
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Introduction |
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In his essay entitled The Uniqueness of the Individual, published in 1957, the Nobel Laureate Peter Medawar described how the tremendous genetic diversity of individuals within a species enables the species as a whole to survive.1 At same time, his essay highlights that individual genetic diversity also poses a major challenge for the medical profession when trying to treat individuals. Although Medawar focused on genetic immunologic diversity in the context of immunologic tolerance to enable therapeutic transplantation of tissues and organs, the basic concept of diversity being a major benefit as well as a challenge is applicable to all aspects of human existence, from artistic creativity to social structures.
In medicine, the recognition of the importance of individual diversity is common-place and has been incorporated into the day-to-day practice in the field of transplantation medicine and immunology. More recently, it is gaining recognition and acceptance in other fields of medicine as well and has given rise to the concepts of pharmacogenomics and individualized medicine, in which medical therapies would be tailored to the specific gene expression and drug-response profile of the individual patient.2
Genetic profiling of patients is rarely performed in the practice of cardiovascular medicine, but data are emerging that, for example, patients may differ in their responses to drugs such as aspirin, although there is significant controversy in this area.3 Even in emerging cardiovascular therapeutic approaches, such as those directed at enhancing blood vessel growth, there is a lack of standard patient profiling and individualizing therapies. One
Related Article:
Circ. Res. 2008 102: 1286-1294.
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