University of Wisconsin researchers find some genes linked to cholesterol

Scientists are looking into the genome for answers on curing common diseases with a new field of “precision medicine," which can customize drugs according to a patient’s DNA.

Brian Parks, a professor of nutritional sciences at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, is pioneering a study that can shed light on previously unknown gene markers, according to a press release from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. 

By comparing animal DNA data with human DNA data, the research team found a total of 112 genes that are used in regulating cholesterol and 54 of those genes link to the human body, according to the press release. Of the 112 genes, 25 of them have not been found before, which helps the potential of finding a genetic link, and possible cure, to diseases such as high cholesterol, the University reports. 

Researchers said the gene Sestrin1 particularly stood out to them, because it made the cholesterol simpler to study due to it being regulated by the liver, according to the press release.  

These genes can also help with the possibility to "extend this technique to other traits like obesity,” Parks said in the press release.