Tubulin-folding cofactor E deficiency is associated with vascular dysfunction and endoplasmatic reticulum stress of vascular smooth muscle cells

Abstract Introduction Endothelial function assessed via flow mediated dilatation (FMD) has shown to predict risk in individuals with established cardiovascular diseases, whereas its predictive value is uncertain in the setting primary prevention. Purpose The aim of the current work was to discover and evaluate novel mediators of vascular dysfunction in the general population and in conditional knock-out transgenic animal models. Methods In order to identify novel targets that were negatively correlated with FMD and investigate their contribution in vascular function, a Genome Wide Association Study (GWAS) of 5,000 participants was performed and subsequently immune cell-, endothelial- and va…