The Chennai based Frontier Lifeline Hospital (FLL) and The Institute for Atherosclerosis Research, Moscow in Russia, have come together for a collaborative research agreement to study the ‘genetic similarities causing heart diseases in Russians & Indians’, according to sources from FLL.

Sergey L. Kotov, Consul General of the Russian Federation for South India, Prof. Alexander Orekhov, Director of Institute for Atherosclerosis Research, Moscow,  along with Dr Sanjay Cherian, vice–president at the Frontier Lifeline announced this at a press conference in Chennai.

Heart disease is the most common cause of death across the globe.  Recent data shows that there is an increasing incidence of heart attacks both in India and Russia. In order to study if there are any genetic similarities between Indians and Russians, the two institutions have initiated the scientific collaboration.

According to Sergey L. Kotov, two leading institutes from Russia and India are joining hands together to study one of the biggest medical problems that both countries are facing today.  The results of this research may benefit both Russians and Indians by identifying potential linkages between genetics and heart diseases.

Under this partnership, FLL, Chennai and the Russian Institute will jointly develop research projects, clinical studies, and strategies in the area of genetic similarities collectively aimed at improving the quality of health and also to speed up the development of potential new therapies for patients with heart diseases, said Prof. Alexander Orekhov.

 Dr Sanjay Cherian from FLL commented that approximately 10 per cent of heart diseases are due to genetic abnormalities.   The present research is aimed at analyzing any genetic abnormality that may predispose to developing heart attacks by studying gene mutations in atherosclerosis. This formal MoU between India and Russia will be a grand step forward in the field of medical science and technology to prevent heart attacks.