Environmental Contributors to Epigenetics and Cardiovascular Disease Risk

Abstract

Cardiovascular diseases are the leading causes of death and disability worldwide. With the advent of high throughput genome analysis tools, the scientific community has begun the process of associating heritable SNPs with genetic predispositions for disease. However, models for how the environment interacts with the static DNA code are now needed. The exciting new field of epigenetics allows for a newer perspective of how a cell’s DNA sequence dynamically responds to environmental stimuli and insults. How does smoking evoke chromatin-based changes to alter gene expression? What non-coding RNAs are responsive to hypercholesterolemia in atherogenesis? This chapter will highlight emerging epigenetic concepts in cardiovascular health in relation to a range of environmental stressors from starvation to microfluidic hemodynamics in our vasculature. Epigenetics provides unique insights into the pathogenesis of vascular diseases and suggests alternative therapies and diagnostic tools for physicians.