LONDON, April 29 (Xinhua) -- British scientists have identified in a new study a gene that can cause the heart to become enlarged, greatly increasing the risk of heart attacks and heart failure.

    The new study, carried out by researchers from Imperial College London, the British Medical Research Council and other international institutions, suggested that the gene called osteoglycin (Ogn), which had not previously been linked with heart function, can behave abnormally in some people and can lead to the heart becoming abnormally enlarged, according to a press release by Imperial College London on Tuesday.

    The study showed that the osteoglycin gene regulates the growth of the heart's main pumping chamber, its left ventricle. If the left ventricle thickens, this creates a condition known as elevated Left Ventricular Mass (LVM), a major contributing factor for common heart diseases. When the heart is enlarged it needs more oxygen and becomes stiff. This can cause shortness of breath or lead to a heart attack.

    The researchers found that higher than normal levels of Ogn were associated with the heart becoming enlarged in rats and mice and in humans.

    The researchers first linked the gene with elevated LVM by looking at rat models and analyzing how LVM related to the genetic makeup of rats with both elevated and normal LVM, then carried out the same analyzes on samples from the human heart, volunteered by patients who had undergone cardiac surgery at Hammersmith Hospital in UK and from a second group of patients from the Netherlands.

    These analyses showed that out of 22,000 possible genes, osteoglycin was the gene most strongly correlated with elevated LVM in humans.

    Scientists believe that enlarged hearts are caused by a combination of genetic factors and external stimuli such as high blood pressure and obesity. However, the role played by genes has remained largely unknown.

    The researchers hope that through understanding how enlarged hearts are linked to the workings of genes like Ogn, they will be able to develop new treatments for the condition. They also hope that their findings will provide new avenues for treating people who either have an enlarged heart or are at risk of developing one. At present enlarged hearts can only be treated by lowering blood pressure.

    "Now that we are unravelling how genes control heart growth, we can gain a better understanding of common forms of heart disease. This should lead to new and more effective ways of treating people," Stuart Cook, one of the corresponding authors of the study, said.

    "This study shows how we can use the wealth of new genome technologies for analyzing people's genes to gain a much greater understanding of common human disorders. We already knew that enlarged hearts were linked with conditions such as high blood pressure and obesity but figuring out the genetic causes as well could be key to working out how to treat the condition," Tim Aitman, another corresponding author of the study said.