Researchers Clone Gene to Help Control Cholesterol Level

Researchers in San Francisco have cloned a gene they say may provide a key to controlling high cholesterol levels, which increase the likelihood of heart problems.

In a report to be published Oct. 4 in Science magazine, University of California, San Francisco, researchers and their colleagues elsewhere in the United States and England report that they have obtained clones for the structural protein called apo-B, a key to the natural control of cholesterol. Cholesterol builds fatty tissue in the arteries, straining the heart by impeding blood flow and increasing the risk of heart attacks.