"Vitamin E Could Help 40% Of Diabetics Ward Off Heart Attacks",
Science Daily, November 29, 2007,
Link: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/11/071123195803.htm

Vitamin E supplements can significantly reduce the risk of heart
attacks and related deaths for diabetics who carry a particular
version of a gene, according to researchers at the Technion-Israel
Institute of Technology and the Clalit Health Services in Israel.

After 18 months of treatment, people with the haptoglobin (Hp) 2-2
gene who took 400 International Units (IU) of vitamin E daily had more
than 50 percent fewer heart attacks, strokes, and related deaths than
Hp 2-2 patients who took a placebo pill. 40% of individuals with
diabetes carry the Hp 2-2 gene.

Most of the difference came from the reduced number of heart attacks
among those taking vitamin E. In the group of 1,434 Hp 2-2 individuals
taking part in the study, seven people had a heart attack, compared to
17 who did not take the vitamin. Dr. Andrew Levy, of the Technion
Faculty of Medicine, said there were no side effects observed in
patients who took vitamin E.

The study suggests that genetic testing for the Hp 2-2 gene "may be
useful to identify a large group of diabetes individuals who could
potentially derive cardiovascular benefit from a very inexpensive
treatment," Levy said.

The finding is a new answer to an old question: can antioxidant
vitamins such as vitamin E help prevent heart disease? Previously,
cardiologists routinely prescribed vitamin E for their patients, but
the practice has dwindled as several major studies in the past decade
showed no heart-protective effects and potential harm from vitamin E
mega-doses.

However, Levy and colleagues suspected that there might be one group
of patients who could benefit from vitamin E: diabetic individuals
with a particular variant of the haptoglobin gene. Haptoglobin is a
powerful antioxidant protein that stabilizes the iron-rich red blood
cell molecule called hemoglobin, preventing inflammation in the walls
of arteries.

There are several versions of the haptoglobin gene. In previous
studies, Levy and colleagues showed that Hp 2-2 is an inferior
antioxidant compared to its genetic siblings, and that this difference
is exaggerated in patients with diabetes. The researchers also
discovered that diabetic patients with Hp 2-2 are two-to-three times
more likely than other diabetics to suffer a cardiovascular event such
as a heart attack.

"This version of the gene does not determine whether or not an
individual will develop diabetes but rather whether an individual with
diabetes is susceptible to developing the devastating complications
associated with diabetes such as heart disease, kidney disease or
visual loss," Levy noted.

A genetic test for Hp 2-2 is commercially available, said Levy, who is
also a consultant for Synvista Therapeutics, which owns a patent on
the use of Hp testing to predict diabetic complications.

By making a kit, the group hopes to considerably lower the price of
testing. According to Levy, the test would cost about $30 and only
have to be done only once.

The researchers will present the results on November 5 at the American
Heart Meetings in Orlando, Florida. The full study will appear in the
November 21 online edition of the journal Arteriosclerosis,
Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology.

Adapted from materials provided by American Technion Society.