Celera granted US patent on LPA gene variant's association with increased risk for myocardial infarction

Aug 25 2010

Celera Corporation (NASDAQ:CRA) today announced that the United States Patent and Trademark Office has issued United States Patent 7,781,168 relating to methods of determining heart attack risk by detecting the Ile4399Met genetic polymorphism in the protease-like domain of LPA.

“We're pleased with the issuance of this patent on the LPA gene variant's association with increased risk for myocardial infarction”

Studies have shown this variant of the LPA gene is associated with a two-fold higher risk of major cardiovascular events (myocardial infarction, ischemic stroke and cardiovascular death). The increased risk of cardiovascular events observed in LPA carriers was independent of other well known risk factors associated with cardiovascular events, including hypertension, LDL-cholesterol, HDL-Cholesterol, and age, which further supports the conclusion that a LPA gene variant is an independent predictor of risk for myocardial infarction. LPA encodes apolipoprotein (a) a protein component of Lp(a) plasma lipoprotein particles and the gene variant results in an amino acid substitution (methionine for isoleucine) in the protease-like domain of apolipoprotein(a). Carriers of the LPA gene variant also had higher plasma Lp(a) levels.

"We're pleased with the issuance of this patent on the LPA gene variant's association with increased risk for myocardial infarction," said Kathy Ordoñez, Chief Executive Officer of Celera. "We believe that Celera's patent estate will provide our products and services with long-term market protection."

A genetic analysis of the Women's Health Study of 25,131 initially healthy participants published by Celera and its collaborators at Brigham and Women's Hospital confirmed the increased disease risk associated with this LPA variant and further demonstrated that carriers appeared to benefit more from aspirin therapy than noncarriers. Patent applications relating to this aspect of the LPA gene variant are currently pending.

SOURCE Celera Corporation