People who naturally have lower activity of a protein called PCSK9 don’t seem to have a higher chance of getting type 2 diabetes — which means drugs that target PCSK9 might not increase diabetes risk like some earlier studies worried they would.

People who naturally have a broken PCSK9 gene — which keeps their bad cholesterol low their whole life — are much less likely to get heart disease, and this seems to be true for people of many different backgrounds.

In White people, having genes that naturally lower PCSK9 are linked to a lower chance of developing leg circulation problems, possibly because of how these genes affect cholesterol.

People born with a certain gene change that breaks the PCSK9 gene tend to have much lower 'bad' cholesterol their whole lives and are far less likely to get heart disease — so scientists think blocking this gene with medicine might help protect others' hearts too.

Some people of African descent have natural changes in a gene called PCSK9 that seem to lower their cholesterol levels a lot.