title: [Genetic aspects of erectile dysfunction].
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Erectile dysfunction (ED) is a common disorder in man that influences the quality of life of the patient and his partner. Known risk factors for ED comprise diabetes, coronary artery disease, hypertension but also lifestyle modifications such as smoking, diminished physical activity as well as obesity. In this manuscript the current scientific literature about genetics and erectile dysfunction is reviewed.
  
  
  METHODS
  A literature search using the databank PubMed covering the topics genetics and erectile dysfunction was performed and relevant papers selected for presentation.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Several aspects of genetics and ED are described in the current literature. Association studies of candidate polymorphisms and ED risk in comparison to healthy controls is a major area of research. Another topic is the genome-wide search for candidate polymorphisms with erectile dysfunction. The paper closes with the presentation of the pharmacogenomic analysis of treatment response to phosphodiesterase-5 inhibitors.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The heterogeneous results of genetic association studies are possibly due to small sample sizes of the study population and/or due to ethnic differences of the analyzed populations. This underlines the need for validation of this data in larger prospective multinational multicenter studies.
authors.affiliation: Praxisklinik Urologie Rhein Ruhr, Schulstr. 11, 45468, Mülheim an der Ruhr, Deutschland, a.eisenhardt@pur-r.de.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Eisenhardt
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Sperling
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Rübben
mesh_terms: D007172:Erectile Dysfunction / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000235:genetics*; D005819:Genetic Markers / Q000235:genetics; D020022:Genetic Predisposition to Disease / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000235:genetics*; D005820:Genetic Testing / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D020641:Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide / Q000235:genetics*; D015995:Prevalence; D018570:Risk Assessment
chemical_list: D005819:Genetic Markers