Determination of risk for development of cardiovascular disease by measuring urinary levels of podocin and nephrin messenger rna

Abstract

A method for a determining of risk for development of cardiovascular disease by measuring levels of the at least gene of interest is disclosed. The method may identify subjects with moderate albuminuria and diagnosis or predict cardiovascular disease several years before either of these outcomes is detectable by present methodologies.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method for predicting the risk of cardiovascular disease of a subject comprises:
 a. obtaining a biological sample from the subject;   b. determining the expression level of at least one gene of interest, wherein the at least gene of interest is selected from the group consisting of nephrin, podocin, synaptopodin, Wilm's Tumor-1 (WT-1), UCH-L1, pax-8, RAP1GAP, Rap1a, RAP1b, beta-1 integrin,CD2-Associated Protein (CD2AP), NEPH-1, ZO-1, alpha-actinin 4, Lmx-1b, Pod-1, podocalyxin, podoendin, FAT, and p-cadherin;   c. comparing the expression levels of the at least one gene of interest at first time period and a second time period; and   d. predicting the likelihood of cardiovascular disease developing in the subject based on the outcome of the comparison of the expression levels of the at least gene of interest at different time periods.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the comparing step further comprising comparing the increase in expression of the at least one gene of interest from a first time period to the second time period that is statistically significant. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the second time period is between at least about 1 year to about 10 years from the first time period. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 3 , further comprising comparing at least one gene of interest from the second time period to a third time period. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 4 , wherein the third time period is between at least about 1 year to about 10 years from the second time period. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 3 , further comprising comparing at least two genes of interest selected from the group consisting of nephrin, podocin, synaptopodin, Wilm's Tumor-1 (WT-1), UCH-L1, pax-8, RAP1GAP, Rap1a, RAP1b, beta-1 integrin, CD2-Associated Protein (CD2AP), NEPH-1, ZO-1, alpha-actinin 4, Lmx-1b, Pod-1, podocalyxin, podoendin, FAT, and p-cadherin; and correlating the at least two genes of interest from the first time period to the second time period. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 3 , wherein the expression level is determined by a) a hybridization based method, b) a PCR-based method, particularly a quantitative real-time PCR method, c) determining the protein level, d) a method based on the electrochemical detection of particular molecules, e) an array based method, f) serial analysis of gene expression (sage) and/or g) a rtPCR (reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction) of the gene-related mRNA. 
     
     
         8 . A kit useful for carrying out a method according  claim 1 , comprising at least a) a primer pair and/or a probe each having a sequence sufficiently complementary to the at least one gene, and/or b) an antibody directed against an expression product related to the at least one gene.