Common variants associated with plasma triglycerides and risk for coronary artery disease

Ron Do, Cristen J. Willer, Ellen M. Schmidt, Sebanti Sengupta, Chi Gao, Gina M. Peloso, Stefan Gustafsson, Stavroula Kanoni, Andrea Ganna, Jin Chen, Martin L. Buchkovich, Samia Mora, Jacques S. Beckmann, Jennifer L. Bragg-Gresham, Hsing-Yi Chang, Ayse Demirkan, Heleen M. Den Hertog, Louise A. Donnelly, Georg B. Ehret, Tonu EskoMary F. Feitosa, Teresa Ferreira, Krista Fischer, Pierre Fontanillas, Ross M. Fraser, Daniel F. Freitag, Deepti Gurdasani, Kauko Heikkila, Elina Hyppoenen, Aaron Isaacs, Anne U. Jackson, Asa Johansson, Toby Johnson, Marika Kaakinen, Johannes Kettunen, Marcus E. Kleber, Xiaohui Li, Jian'an Luan, Leo-Pekka Lyytikainen, Patrik K. E. Magnusson, Massimo Mangino, Evelin Mihailov, May E. Montasser, Martina Mueller-Nurasyid, Ilja M. Nolte, Jeffrey R. O'Connell, Cameron D. Palmer, Markus Perola, Author collaboration

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

Abstract

Triglycerides are transported in plasma by specific triglyceride-rich lipoproteins; in epidemiological studies, increased triglyceride levels correlate with higher risk for coronary artery disease (CAD). However, it is unclear whether this association reflects causal processes. We used 185 common variants recently mapped for plasma lipids (P < 5 x 10(-8) for each) to examine the role of triglycerides in risk for CAD. First, we highlight loci associated with both low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) and triglyceride levels, and we show that the direction and magnitude of the associations with both traits are factors in determining CAD risk. Second, we consider loci with only a strong association with triglycerides and show that these loci are also associated with CAD. Finally, in a model accounting for effects on LDL-C and/or high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) levels, the strength of a polymorphism's effect on triglyceride levels is correlated with the magnitude of its effect on CAD risk. These results suggest that triglyceride-rich lipoproteins causally influence risk for CAD.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1345-1352
Number of pages9
JournalNature Genetics
Volume45
Issue number11
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Nov 2013
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • High-density-lipoprotein
  • Mendelian randomization
  • Heart-disease
  • Cardiovascular-disease
  • Genetic epidemiology
  • Cholesterol levels
  • Loci
  • Contribute
  • Therapy

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