Measurement of heritability of myocardial blood flow by positron emission tomography: the Twins Heart Study

• Type of Material: Article
• Authors: Shaoyong Su, Emory University; John R Votaw, Emory University; Tracy Faber, Emory University; Durreshahwar Khan, Pennsylvania State University; J. Douglas Bremner, Emory University; Jack Goldberg, University of Washington; Ken Nichols, North Shore–Long Island Jewish Health System; Andrew Van Tosh, St Francis Hospital; Viola Vaccarino, Emory University
• Language: English
• Date: 2012-03-01
• Publisher: BMJ Publishing Group
• Publication Version: Author Accepted Manuscript (After Peer Review)
• Copyright Statement: © 2012, Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited.
• Final Published Version (URL): http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/heartjnl-2011-301080
• Title of Journal or Parent Work: Heart
• ISSN: 1355-6037
• Volume: 98
• Issue: 6
• Start Page: 495
• End Page: 499
• Grant/Funding Information: This study was supported by K24HL077506, R01 HL68630 and R01 AG026255 from the National Institutes of Health, and by grants 0245115N, 0725513B and 09SDG2140117 from the American Heart Association and MO1-RR00039 from the Emory University General Clinical Research Center.; The US Department of Veterans Affairs has provided financial support for the development and maintenance of the Vietnam Era Twin (VET) Registry.; The funding sources had no involvement in the design, analysis and interpretation of the data presented in this paper.
• Keywords: ATHEROSCLEROSIS; GENETICS; CORONARY-ARTERY-DISEASE; DYSFUNCTION; POLYMORPHISMS; PHYSIOLOGY; Cardiac & Cardiovascular Systems; Life Sciences & Biomedicine; SUSCEPTIBILITY; RESERVE; Cardiovascular System & Cardiology; Science & Technology; CHOLESTEROL; PET
• Research Categories: Health Sciences, Epidemiology; Health Sciences, Public Health; Health Sciences, Radiology

Abstract

Objective: To estimate the heritability of myocardial blood flow (MBF) and coronary flow reserve (CFR) measured with positron emission tomography (PET). Design: Cross-sectional twin study. Setting: General clinical research centre of a university hospital at Atlanta, USA. Patients: A sample of 180 middle-aged (mean±SD 55±2.9 years) male twins, including 107 monozygotic and 73 dizygotic twins. Main outcome measures: All twins underwent imaging of MBF with PET 13NH 3 at rest and after adenosine stress during a single imaging session. Structural equation modelling was used to estimate the heritability of MBF at rest and during adenosine stress, as well as of CFR. Results: The basal MBF (mean±SD) was 0.69±0.20 ml/min/g, and the MBF during adenosine stress was 1.70±0.49 ml/min/g; the CFR was 2.62±0.99. There was substantial heritability for MBF both at rest (0.48, 95% CI 0.29 to 0.64) and during adenosine stress (0.51, 95% CI 0.29 to 0.68), as well as CFR (0.48, 95% CI 0.26 to 0.65). Conclusions: For the first time, a substantial genetic contribution to the interindividual variation in MBF and CFR measured with PET in middle-aged men has been demonstrated. The data suggest that a fruitful direction for future work would be the identification of genetic variants for early atherosclerotic stages assessed by PET imaging.