動脈硬化測量標記與Rho-相關激?D基因

Cerebrovascular and heart diseases have ranked as the second and the third leading causes of death over past decade in Taiwan. Cardiovascular diseases (CVD) refer to the diseases that involve the heart or blood vessels, include hypertension, stroke et al, however, atherosclerosis is the common pathological pathway leading to the cardiovascular disease. The alterations in the structural and functional properties of the blood vessel are believed to have an early role in the etiology of atherosclerosis. When lipids accumulate within the artery wall, modify by oxidation and induce inflammatory response, smooth muscle cell and fibrous tissue will proliferate. Then, the arterial wall will thicken and lost elasticity, even decrease or obstruct the blood flow cause the atherosclerotic disease. Atherosclerosis develops silently over decades before clinical manifestations. In the study, subclinical population was recruited. Carotid intima-media thickness and stiffness measured by non-invasive ultrasound to investigate whether measure both IMT and stiffness simultaneously would provide more information than either one for predicting future atherosclerotic disease risk. Many studies in vivo or in vitro indicated that Rho-associated kinase (ROCK) and its downstream targets involved in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis. ROCK plays an important role in adhesion, migration and proliferation of the vascular smooth muscle cell. If ROCK activity be inhibited, the cellular function will not be apparently. However, seldom studies investigated the influence of ROCK gene in human. Consequently, the association between ROCK gene polymorphism and ultrasound measurements had been studied to evaluate the influence of ROCK gene to atherosclerotic diseases in subclinical population. Moreover, identify susceptibility gene may approach to prevent CVD in the early stage.