Our discovery of the role of AGXT2 in metabolism of homoarginine together with the suggested protective role of homoarginine in cardiovascular disease states may explain why in some areas, such as Japan, up to 50% of the population show a functional AGXT2 deficiency without evidence for excess cardiovascular mortality, as it might have been expected from the loss of AGXT2-mediated clearance of ADMA. This evidence concerns the gene AGXT2 and cardiovascular disorder.