Recent advances and new tools in the study of molecular genetics of lipoprotein disorders

More than three centuries after Mendel, at the era of electronic and computed information taking over the principle of information transmitted in discrete "packets" on the "internet", the sequence of the human genome is about to be completely released on public databases accessible on that very same internet. The gene, classically a virtual object, has become after several decades of intensive progress in cellular and molecular biology a real object commonly manipulated and analyzed. More than fifty genes have been identified in the regulation of lipoprotein metabolism, giving rise to novel molecular pathophysiological bases for dyslipoproteinemia and beyond to other disorders related with lipid homeostasis. Dyslipoproteinemia, or disorders of lipoprotein metabolism commonly considered as lifestyle and age-related diseases, have note a molecular basis Novel clinical entities no longer defined as "essential", but as molecular-based are progressively individualized Novel tools for the diagnosis, prognosis or treatment have already modified the way these silent and frequent diseases are managed in clinical practice. In that respect, dyslipoproteinemia are among pioneer diseases in the medicine of the new millennium, which progressively evolves from a fact-based medicine to the individualized prevention of morbid events.