Genetic Biomarkers of Cardiovascular and Cerebrovascular Reserves in Athletes

Abstract

As the practice of modern elite sports shows, the functional capabilities of the athlete's body have almost reached their limit. Further increase in the volume and intensity of physical activity is associated with the risk of desadaptative changes in the athlete's body. It is known that in endurance sports, the cardiovascular system is the main limiting factor in achieving a high athletic result. In this regard, a promising approach is to search for molecular genetic markers associated with high functional reserve of the cardiovascular system of athletes. A personalized approach in sports practice is an effective tool for sports selection, development of personalized training pro-grams to optimize the health status and achieve high performance of an athlete, as well as for the prevention of sports traumatism. (1) Background: to conduct a systematic review of the studies of candidate genes and their single-nucleotide variants (SNVs) associated with the functioning of the cardiovascular system in cyclical sports athletes.(2) Methods: A search for publications between 2000 - 2021 in the databases SCOPUS, Web of Science, Google Scholar, PubMed, e-LIBRARY, using the key words and their combinations; (3) Conclusions: the Identification of genetic markers (SNVs and polymorphisms of the ACE, BDKRB2, CMA1B, NOS3 and VEGFA genes) associated with the functional reserve of the cardiovascular system, can help cardiologists, sports physicians and trainers in developing personalized strategies for the selection of children / teenagers and the choice of sports specializations. Such a personalized approach will increase sports performance and reduce the risk of overtraining and failure to adapt during a difficult competitive period.