Translation of genomics into routine cardiological practice: insights from a European Society of Cardiology Cardiovascular Round Table

Abstract

Cardiovascular diseases (CVD) remain the leading cause of death globally and there is an urgent need for innovative approaches to treatment. One emerging avenue is genetic therapies, which hold particular promise for diseases with a monogenic basis. Gene silencing techniques using antisense oligonucleotides or ribonucleic acid interference strategies are currently at the forefront of genetic therapies in CVD, with several ribonucleic acid-targeted therapies already approved for the treatment of conditions such as familial hypercholesterolaemia and transthyretin amyloidosis. For diseases caused by loss-of-function genetic variants, there is growing interest in gene therapy, applying either gene replacement strategies using adeno-associated virus vectors or gene editing strategies using tools such as the clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats and clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats-associated protein-9 system. Preclinical studies have highlighted the potential of this technology in CVD and promising data are beginning to emerge from early-phase clinical trials. During a European Society of Cardiology Cardiovascular Round Table workshop, the challenges of translating these novel therapeutic strategies to the routine cardiology clinic were discussed. Several key priorities were identified, including the need for disease-specific preclinical models, precision diagnostics, adequately powered clinical trials with meaningful endpoints, and enhanced education of healthcare professionals and patients. The Cardiovascular Round Table also considered the role of polygenic risk scores in risk stratification and how these can potentially be implemented in clinical practice.