Can Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms Predict the Outcome?
From Baylor College of Medicine, Department of Medicine, Section of Cardiology, Houston, Tex. Correspondence to A.J. Marian, MD, Associate Professor of Medicine, Section of Cardiology, One Baylor Plaza, 543E, Houston, TX 77030. E-mail amarian@bcm.tmc.edu Key Words: Editorials genetics aneurysm cytokines polymorphism, single nucleotide The late Professor Russell Ross proposed the “response to injury” hypothesis for the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis 25 years ago.1 2 3 This shifted the paradigm from the “fibrin incrustation” and “lipid transudation” hypotheses that were formulated in the mid-19th century by von Rokitansy and Virchow, respectively. Subsequent identification of growth and mitotic factors in the vessel wall that were responsible for the proliferation and migration of smooth muscle cells,1 along with the landmark discovery of endothelium as a biologically active inner layer of vessels by Furchgott and colleagues,4 established the active role of blood vessels in pathological
