English Abstract Recent developments in molecular biology have
stimulated research into the genetic basis of human diseases. At first,
most attention was focussed at monogenetic diseases. However, especially
chronic diseases such as cardiovascular diseases and diabetes mellitus are
important from a public health point of view: the number of patients is
large, rates increase with aging of the population, mortality is high, as
are the health care costs. Until now, the incidence of these diseases can
only be explained for a 50% at maximum. The remaining percentage can
probably be explained by still unknown factors, of which genetic factors
seem to be the most important. Cardiovascular disease and diabetes are both
chronic diseases, with a multifactorial origin. Insight into the genetic
basis of these diseases and the way genetic information is expressed and
revealed by environmental and lifestyle factors, is of main importance for
the future prevention of these disorders. In this overview attention was
paid to the process of atherosclerosis, and to the development of type 1 and
type 2 diabetes mellitus. It is clear that studies should first focus on
the biological intermediates of these processes. From the literature study
it appears that studies into the genetics of lipoprotein metabolism may be
especially fruitful regarding atherosclerosis. There are sufficient
possibilities to study the interaction with lifestyle factors such as
diet.
