Genomics of premature atherosclerotic vascular disease.

Atherosclerotic vascular disease is a systemic process with a common pathophysiology but with different disease manifestations depending on the vascular site. Over the past two decades, significant efforts have gone toward determining the genomic factors contributing to atherosclerotic vascular disease. Substantial information has been generated regarding the genomics of atherosclerotic coronary heart disease, and recently, several genomic analyses have looked at the cerebrovascular and peripheral vascular beds. This article reviews genomic investigations of atherosclerotic vascular disease in the coronary, cerebrovascular, and peripheral arteries. In this review, we have tried to restrict the discussion to studies of premature atherosclerosis, particularly those using non-biased genomic techniques.