Cristoforo and Rosa Pomaroli had a son in 1780 in their small town in Italy, never knowing that they bequeathed a genetic legacy that offers hope for reversing heart disease over two centuries later. The boy’s descendants in the northern Italian town of Limone inherited a genetic defect that protects them from the scourge of Western living — fatty deposits that clog the arteries. The 38 lucky carriers have a simple mutation in a protein of so-called good cholesterol that lets them eat red meat, sausage, and butter without artery-clogging deposits. They range in age from the teens to nearly 90 and they’ve never worried about strokes or heart attacks. Ever since pharmacology professor Dr. Cesare Sirtori of the University of Milan discovered the mutation — called Apolipoprotein A-1 — doctors have wondered about harnessing its power to eliminate coronary artery disease. Researchers are hopeful that the gene could be transferred to the liver or other organs of very high-risk people, who could then end up manufacturing it on their own.
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| Giuliano Segala and his father Gianni both carry the gene |
