WASHINGTON: Iranian and US scientists have identified a rare gene defect which has triggered early heart disease among more than 25 members of a large Iranian family, according to a study published on Thursday.

The genetic disorder caused high blood pressure, spiralling levels of bad cholesterol and diabetes, killing 23 family members by an average age of 52, the study published in the latest edition of Science magazine said.

According to research team leader Richard Lifton, from the Yale University School of Medicine, physicians in

Tehran had long been aware of the family’s tragic struggle with the early onset of coronary artery disease.

“Our studies identify a single mutation that has quite a large effect on many of the metabolic risk factors for coronary artery disease,” he said.

“Unfortunately, most of the individuals in this family who carried the mutation died in their early fifties from coronary artery disease that resulted in heart attacks and heart failure.”

The Yale team worked with researchers from Tehran's Amir Kabir University of Technology, Azad University and The Social Welfare and Rehabilitation Sciences University to pinpoint the genetic defect.

Coronary artery disease is the leading cause of death worldwide, and this discovery does not provide answers for all forms of the illness.

But understanding the molecular nature of this single genetic defect, which is at the root of a familial form of such a complex disease, could offer invaluable clues for other forms of heart disease, Lifton added.—AFP