@article {932, title = {Association of polymorphisms in the CRP gene with circulating C-reactive protein levels and cardiovascular events.}, journal = {JAMA}, volume = {296}, year = {2006}, month = {2006 Dec 13}, pages = {2703-11}, abstract = {

CONTEXT: C-reactive protein (CRP) is an inflammation protein that may play a role in the pathogenesis of cardiovascular disease (CVD).

OBJECTIVE: To assess whether polymorphisms in the CRP gene are associated with plasma CRP, carotid intima-media thickness (CIMT), and CVD events.

DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: In the prospective, population-based Cardiovascular Health Study, 4 tag single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) (1919A/T, 2667G/C, 3872G/A, 5237A/G) were genotyped in 3941 white (European American) participants and 5 tag SNPs (addition of 790A/T) were genotyped in 700 black (African American) participants, aged 65 years or older, all of whom were without myocardial infarction (MI) or stroke before study entry. Median follow-up was 13 years (1989-2003).

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Baseline CIMT; occurrence of MI, stroke, and CVD mortality during follow-up.

RESULTS: In white participants, 461 incident MIs, 491 incident strokes, and 490 CVD-related deaths occurred; in black participants, 67 incident MIs, 78 incident strokes, and 75 CVD-related deaths occurred. The 1919T and 790T alleles were associated with higher CRP levels in white and black participants, respectively. The 3872A allele was associated with lower CRP levels in both populations, and the 2667C allele was associated with lower CRP levels in white participants only. There was no association between CIMT and any CRP gene polymorphism in either population. In white participants, the 1919T allele was associated with increased risk of stroke for TT vs AA (hazard ratio [HR], 1.40; 95\% confidence interval [CI], 1.06-1.87) and for CVD mortality (HR, 1.40; 95\% CI, 1.10-1.90). In black participants, homozygosity for the 790T allele was associated with a 4-fold increased risk of MI compared with homozygosity for the 790A allele (95\% CI, 1.58-10.53). The minor alleles of the 2 SNPs associated with lower plasma CRP concentration in white participants (2667C and 3872A) were associated with decreased risk of CVD mortality.

CONCLUSIONS: Genetic variation in the CRP gene is associated with plasma CRP levels and CVD risk in older adults.

}, keywords = {African Continental Ancestry Group, Aged, C-Reactive Protein, Cardiovascular Diseases, Carotid Arteries, European Continental Ancestry Group, Female, Genotype, Humans, Male, Myocardial Infarction, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide, Proportional Hazards Models, Risk, Stroke, Tunica Intima}, issn = {1538-3598}, doi = {10.1001/jama.296.22.2703}, author = {Lange, Leslie A and Carlson, Christopher S and Hindorff, Lucia A and Lange, Ethan M and Walston, Jeremy and Durda, J Peter and Cushman, Mary and Bis, Joshua C and Zeng, Donglin and Lin, Danyu and Kuller, Lewis H and Nickerson, Deborah A and Psaty, Bruce M and Tracy, Russell P and Reiner, Alexander P} } @article {1081, title = {Inflammation and stress-related candidate genes, plasma interleukin-6 levels, and longevity in older adults.}, journal = {Exp Gerontol}, volume = {44}, year = {2009}, month = {2009 May}, pages = {350-5}, abstract = {

Interleukin-6 (IL-6) is an inflammatory cytokine that influences the development of inflammatory and aging-related disorders and ultimately longevity. In order to study the influence of variants in genes that regulate inflammatory response on IL-6 levels and longevity, we screened a panel of 477 tag SNPs across 87 candidate genes in >5000 older participants from the population-based Cardiovascular Health Study (CHS). Baseline plasma IL-6 concentration was first confirmed as a strong predictor of all-cause mortality. Functional alleles of the IL6R and PARP1 genes were significantly associated with 15\%-20\% higher baseline IL-6 concentration per copy among CHS European-American (EA) participants (all p<10(-4)). In a case/control analysis nested within this EA cohort, the minor allele of PARP1 rs1805415 was nominally associated with decreased longevity (p=0.001), but there was no evidence of association between IL6R genotype and longevity. The PARP1 rs1805415--longevity association was subsequently replicated in one of two independent case/control studies. In a pooled analysis of all three studies, the "risk" of longevity associated with the minor allele of PARP1 rs1805415 was 0.79 (95\%CI 0.62-1.02; p=0.07). These findings warrant further study of the potential role of PARP1 genotype in inflammatory and aging-related phenotypes.

}, keywords = {Aged, Aged, 80 and over, Aging, Cardiovascular Diseases, Case-Control Studies, Female, Genetic Variation, Genotype, Humans, Inflammation, Interleukin-6, Longevity, Male, Phenotype, Poly (ADP-Ribose) Polymerase-1, Poly(ADP-ribose) Polymerases, Risk Factors}, issn = {1873-6815}, doi = {10.1016/j.exger.2009.02.004}, author = {Walston, Jeremy D and Matteini, Amy M and Nievergelt, Caroline and Lange, Leslie A and Fallin, Dani M and Barzilai, Nir and Ziv, Elad and Pawlikowska, Ludmila and Kwok, Pui and Cummings, Steve R and Kooperberg, Charles and LaCroix, Andrea and Tracy, Russell P and Atzmon, Gil and Lange, Ethan M and Reiner, Alex P} } @article {1562, title = {Association of genomic loci from a cardiovascular gene SNP array with fibrinogen levels in European Americans and African-Americans from six cohort studies: the Candidate Gene Association Resource (CARe).}, journal = {Blood}, volume = {117}, year = {2011}, month = {2011 Jan 06}, pages = {268-75}, abstract = {

Several common genomic loci, involving various immunity- and metabolism-related genes, have been associated with plasma fibrinogen in European Americans (EAs). The genetic determinants of fibrinogen in African Americans (AAs) are poorly characterized. Using a vascular gene-centric array in 23,634 EA and 6657 AA participants from 6 studies comprising the Candidate Gene Association Resource project, we examined the association of 47,539 common and lower frequency variants with fibrinogen concentration. We identified a rare Pro265Leu variant in FGB (rs6054) associated with lower fibrinogen. Common fibrinogen gene single nucleotide polymorphisms (FGB rs1800787 and FGG rs2066861) significantly associated with fibrinogen in EAs were prevalent in AAs and showed consistent associations. Several fibrinogen locus single nucleotide polymorphism associated with lower fibrinogen were exclusive to AAs; these include a newly reported association with FGA rs10050257. For IL6R, IL1RN, and NLRP3 inflammatory gene loci, associations with fibrinogen were concordant between EAs and AAs, but not at other loci (CPS1, PCCB, and SCL22A5-IRF1). The association of FGG rs2066861 with fibrinogen differed according to assay type used to measure fibrinogen. Further characterization of common and lower-frequency genetic variants that contribute to interpopulation differences in fibrinogen phenotype may help refine our understanding of the contribution of hemostasis and inflammation to atherothrombotic risk.

}, keywords = {Adult, African Americans, Aged, Cardiovascular Diseases, Cohort Studies, European Continental Ancestry Group, Female, Fibrinogen, Genetic Predisposition to Disease, Haplotypes, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Phenotype, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide, Risk Factors}, issn = {1528-0020}, doi = {10.1182/blood-2010-06-289546}, author = {Wassel, Christina L and Lange, Leslie A and Keating, Brendan J and Taylor, Kira C and Johnson, Andrew D and Palmer, Cameron and Ho, Lindsey A and Smith, Nicholas L and Lange, Ethan M and Li, Yun and Yang, Qiong and Delaney, Joseph A and Tang, Weihong and Tofler, Geoffrey and Redline, Susan and Taylor, Herman A and Wilson, James G and Tracy, Russell P and Jacobs, David R and Folsom, Aaron R and Green, David and O{\textquoteright}Donnell, Christopher J and Reiner, Alexander P} } @article {1564, title = {Soluble CD14: genomewide association analysis and relationship to cardiovascular risk and mortality in older adults.}, journal = {Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol}, volume = {33}, year = {2013}, month = {2013 Jan}, pages = {158-64}, abstract = {

OBJECTIVE: CD14 is a glycosylphosphotidylinositol-anchored membrane glycoprotein expressed on neutrophils and monocytes/macrophages that also circulates as a soluble form (sCD14). Despite the well-recognized role of CD14 in inflammation, relatively little is known about the genetic determinants of sCD14 or the relationship of sCD14 to vascular- and aging-related phenotypes.

METHODS AND RESULTS: We measured baseline levels of sCD14 in >5000 European-American and black adults aged 65 years and older from the Cardiovascular Health Study, who were well characterized at baseline for atherosclerotic risk factors and subclinical cardiovascular disease, and who have been followed for clinical cardiovascular disease and mortality outcomes up to 20 years. At baseline, sCD14 generally showed strong positive correlations with traditional cardio-metabolic risk factors and with subclinical measures of vascular disease such as carotid wall thickness and ankle-brachial index (independently of traditional cardiovascular disease risk factors), and was also inversely correlated with body mass index. In genomewide association analyses of sCD14, we (1) confirmed the importance of the CD14 locus on chromosome 5q21 in European-American; (2) identified a novel African ancestry-specific allele of CD14 associated with lower sCD14 in blacks; and (3) identified a putative novel association in European-American of a nonsynonymous variant of PIGC, which encodes an enzyme required for the first step in glycosylphosphotidylinositol anchor biosynthesis. Finally, we show that, like other acute phase inflammatory biomarkers, sCD14 predicts incident cardiovascular disease, and strongly and independently predicts all-cause mortality in older adults.

CONCLUSIONS: CD14 independently predicts risk mortality in older adults.

}, keywords = {African Americans, Age Factors, Aged, Biomarkers, Cardiovascular Diseases, Chromosomes, Human, Pair 5, European Continental Ancestry Group, Female, Genetic Predisposition to Disease, Genome-Wide Association Study, Haplotypes, Hexosyltransferases, Humans, Incidence, Inflammation Mediators, Linear Models, Lipopolysaccharide Receptors, Logistic Models, Male, Membrane Proteins, Multivariate Analysis, Phenotype, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide, Principal Component Analysis, Prognosis, Proportional Hazards Models, Prospective Studies, Risk Assessment, Risk Factors, Time Factors, United States}, issn = {1524-4636}, doi = {10.1161/ATVBAHA.112.300421}, author = {Reiner, Alex P and Lange, Ethan M and Jenny, Nancy S and Chaves, Paulo H M and Ellis, Jaclyn and Li, Jin and Walston, Jeremy and Lange, Leslie A and Cushman, Mary and Tracy, Russell P} } @article {6558, title = {Large multiethnic Candidate Gene Study for C-reactive protein levels: identification of a novel association at CD36 in African Americans.}, journal = {Hum Genet}, volume = {133}, year = {2014}, month = {2014 Aug}, pages = {985-95}, abstract = {

C-reactive protein (CRP) is a heritable biomarker of systemic inflammation and a predictor of cardiovascular disease (CVD). Large-scale genetic association studies for CRP have largely focused on individuals of European descent. We sought to uncover novel genetic variants for CRP in a multiethnic sample using the ITMAT Broad-CARe (IBC) array, a custom 50,000 SNP gene-centric array having dense coverage of over 2,000 candidate CVD genes. We performed analyses on 7,570 African Americans (AA) from the Candidate gene Association Resource (CARe) study and race-combined meta-analyses that included 29,939 additional individuals of European descent from CARe, the Women{\textquoteright}s Health Initiative (WHI) and KORA studies. We observed array-wide significance (p < 2.2 {\texttimes} 10(-6)) for four loci in AA, three of which have been reported previously in individuals of European descent (IL6R, p = 2.0 {\texttimes} 10(-6); CRP, p = 4.2 {\texttimes} 10(-71); APOE, p = 1.6 {\texttimes} 10(-6)). The fourth significant locus, CD36 (p = 1.6 {\texttimes} 10(-6)), was observed at a functional variant (rs3211938) that is extremely rare in individuals of European descent. We replicated the CD36 finding (p = 1.8 {\texttimes} 10(-5)) in an independent sample of 8,041 AA women from WHI; a meta-analysis combining the CARe and WHI AA results at rs3211938 reached genome-wide significance (p = 1.5 {\texttimes} 10(-10)). In the race-combined meta-analyses, 13 loci reached significance, including ten (CRP, TOMM40/APOE/APOC1, HNF1A, LEPR, GCKR, IL6R, IL1RN, NLRP3, HNF4A and BAZ1B/BCL7B) previously associated with CRP, and one (ARNTL) previously reported to be nominally associated with CRP. Two novel loci were also detected (RPS6KB1, p = 2.0 {\texttimes} 10(-6); CD36, p = 1.4 {\texttimes} 10(-6)). These results highlight both shared and unique genetic risk factors for CRP in AA compared to populations of European descent.

}, keywords = {Adult, African Americans, Aged, Biomarkers, C-Reactive Protein, Cardiovascular Diseases, CD36 Antigens, Female, Genetic Loci, Genetic Predisposition to Disease, Genetics, Population, Genome-Wide Association Study, Humans, Meta-Analysis as Topic, Middle Aged, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide, Risk Factors}, issn = {1432-1203}, doi = {10.1007/s00439-014-1439-z}, author = {Ellis, Jaclyn and Lange, Ethan M and Li, Jin and Dupuis, Jos{\'e}e and Baumert, Jens and Walston, Jeremy D and Keating, Brendan J and Durda, Peter and Fox, Ervin R and Palmer, Cameron D and Meng, Yan A and Young, Taylor and Farlow, Deborah N and Schnabel, Renate B and Marzi, Carola S and Larkin, Emma and Martin, Lisa W and Bis, Joshua C and Auer, Paul and Ramachandran, Vasan S and Gabriel, Stacey B and Willis, Monte S and Pankow, James S and Papanicolaou, George J and Rotter, Jerome I and Ballantyne, Christie M and Gross, Myron D and Lettre, Guillaume and Wilson, James G and Peters, Ulrike and Koenig, Wolfgang and Tracy, Russell P and Redline, Susan and Reiner, Alex P and Benjamin, Emelia J and Lange, Leslie A} } @article {6577, title = {Whole-exome sequencing identifies rare and low-frequency coding variants associated with LDL cholesterol.}, journal = {Am J Hum Genet}, volume = {94}, year = {2014}, month = {2014 Feb 06}, pages = {233-45}, abstract = {

Elevated low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) is a treatable, heritable risk factor for cardiovascular disease. Genome-wide association studies (GWASs) have identified 157 variants associated with lipid levels but are not well suited to assess the impact of rare and low-frequency variants. To determine whether rare or low-frequency coding variants are associated with LDL-C, we exome sequenced 2,005 individuals, including 554 individuals selected for extreme LDL-C (>98(th) or <2(nd) percentile). Follow-up analyses included sequencing of 1,302 additional individuals and genotype-based analysis of 52,221 individuals. We observed significant evidence of association between LDL-C and the burden of rare or low-frequency variants in PNPLA5, encoding a phospholipase-domain-containing protein, and both known and previously unidentified variants in PCSK9, LDLR and APOB, three known lipid-related genes. The effect sizes for the burden of rare variants for each associated gene were substantially higher than those observed for individual SNPs identified from GWASs. We replicated the PNPLA5 signal in an independent large-scale sequencing study of 2,084 individuals. In conclusion, this large whole-exome-sequencing study for LDL-C identified a gene not known to be implicated in LDL-C and provides unique insight into the design and analysis of similar experiments.

}, keywords = {Adult, Aged, Apolipoproteins E, Cholesterol, LDL, Cohort Studies, Dyslipidemias, Exome, Female, Follow-Up Studies, Gene Frequency, Genetic Code, Genome-Wide Association Study, Genotype, Humans, Lipase, Male, Middle Aged, Phenotype, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide, Proprotein Convertase 9, Proprotein Convertases, Receptors, LDL, Sequence Analysis, DNA, Serine Endopeptidases}, issn = {1537-6605}, doi = {10.1016/j.ajhg.2014.01.010}, author = {Lange, Leslie A and Hu, Youna and Zhang, He and Xue, Chenyi and Schmidt, Ellen M and Tang, Zheng-Zheng and Bizon, Chris and Lange, Ethan M and Smith, Joshua D and Turner, Emily H and Jun, Goo and Kang, Hyun Min and Peloso, Gina and Auer, Paul and Li, Kuo-Ping and Flannick, Jason and Zhang, Ji and Fuchsberger, Christian and Gaulton, Kyle and Lindgren, Cecilia and Locke, Adam and Manning, Alisa and Sim, Xueling and Rivas, Manuel A and Holmen, Oddgeir L and Gottesman, Omri and Lu, Yingchang and Ruderfer, Douglas and Stahl, Eli A and Duan, Qing and Li, Yun and Durda, Peter and Jiao, Shuo and Isaacs, Aaron and Hofman, Albert and Bis, Joshua C and Correa, Adolfo and Griswold, Michael E and Jakobsdottir, Johanna and Smith, Albert V and Schreiner, Pamela J and Feitosa, Mary F and Zhang, Qunyuan and Huffman, Jennifer E and Crosby, Jacy and Wassel, Christina L and Do, Ron and Franceschini, Nora and Martin, Lisa W and Robinson, Jennifer G and Assimes, Themistocles L and Crosslin, David R and Rosenthal, Elisabeth A and Tsai, Michael and Rieder, Mark J and Farlow, Deborah N and Folsom, Aaron R and Lumley, Thomas and Fox, Ervin R and Carlson, Christopher S and Peters, Ulrike and Jackson, Rebecca D and van Duijn, Cornelia M and Uitterlinden, Andr{\'e} G and Levy, Daniel and Rotter, Jerome I and Taylor, Herman A and Gudnason, Vilmundur and Siscovick, David S and Fornage, Myriam and Borecki, Ingrid B and Hayward, Caroline and Rudan, Igor and Chen, Y Eugene and Bottinger, Erwin P and Loos, Ruth J F and S{\ae}trom, P{\r a}l and Hveem, Kristian and Boehnke, Michael and Groop, Leif and McCarthy, Mark and Meitinger, Thomas and Ballantyne, Christie M and Gabriel, Stacey B and O{\textquoteright}Donnell, Christopher J and Post, Wendy S and North, Kari E and Reiner, Alexander P and Boerwinkle, Eric and Psaty, Bruce M and Altshuler, David and Kathiresan, Sekar and Lin, Dan-Yu and Jarvik, Gail P and Cupples, L Adrienne and Kooperberg, Charles and Wilson, James G and Nickerson, Deborah A and Abecasis, Goncalo R and Rich, Stephen S and Tracy, Russell P and Willer, Cristen J} } @article {6691, title = {Exome sequencing identifies rare LDLR and APOA5 alleles conferring risk for myocardial infarction.}, journal = {Nature}, volume = {518}, year = {2015}, month = {2015 Feb 5}, pages = {102-6}, abstract = {

Myocardial infarction (MI), a leading cause of death around the world, displays a complex pattern of inheritance. When MI occurs early in life, genetic inheritance is a major component to risk. Previously, rare mutations in low-density lipoprotein (LDL) genes have been shown to contribute to MI risk in individual families, whereas common variants at more than 45 loci have been associated with MI risk in the population. Here we evaluate how rare mutations contribute to early-onset MI risk in the population. We sequenced the protein-coding regions of 9,793 genomes from patients with MI at an early age (<=50 years in males and <=60 years in females) along with MI-free controls. We identified two genes in which rare coding-sequence mutations were more frequent in MI cases versus controls at exome-wide significance. At low-density lipoprotein receptor (LDLR), carriers of rare non-synonymous mutations were at 4.2-fold increased risk for MI; carriers of null alleles at LDLR were at even higher risk (13-fold difference). Approximately 2\% of early MI cases harbour a rare, damaging mutation in LDLR; this estimate is similar to one made more than 40 years ago using an analysis of total cholesterol. Among controls, about 1 in 217 carried an LDLR coding-sequence mutation and had plasma LDL cholesterol > 190~mg~dl(-1). At apolipoprotein A-V (APOA5), carriers of rare non-synonymous mutations were at 2.2-fold increased risk for MI. When compared with non-carriers, LDLR mutation carriers had higher plasma LDL cholesterol, whereas APOA5 mutation carriers had higher plasma triglycerides. Recent evidence has connected MI risk with coding-sequence mutations at two genes functionally related to APOA5, namely lipoprotein lipase and apolipoprotein C-III (refs 18, 19). Combined, these observations suggest that, as well as LDL cholesterol, disordered metabolism of triglyceride-rich lipoproteins contributes to MI risk.

}, keywords = {Age Factors, Age of Onset, Alleles, Apolipoproteins A, Case-Control Studies, Cholesterol, LDL, Coronary Artery Disease, Exome, Female, Genetic Predisposition to Disease, Genetics, Population, Heterozygote, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Mutation, Myocardial Infarction, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (U.S.), Receptors, LDL, Triglycerides, United States}, issn = {1476-4687}, doi = {10.1038/nature13917}, author = {Do, Ron and Stitziel, Nathan O and Won, Hong-Hee and J{\o}rgensen, Anders Berg and Duga, Stefano and Angelica Merlini, Pier and Kiezun, Adam and Farrall, Martin and Goel, Anuj and Zuk, Or and Guella, Illaria and Asselta, Rosanna and Lange, Leslie A and Peloso, Gina M and Auer, Paul L and Girelli, Domenico and Martinelli, Nicola and Farlow, Deborah N and DePristo, Mark A and Roberts, Robert and Stewart, Alexander F R and Saleheen, Danish and Danesh, John and Epstein, Stephen E and Sivapalaratnam, Suthesh and Hovingh, G Kees and Kastelein, John J and Samani, Nilesh J and Schunkert, Heribert and Erdmann, Jeanette and Shah, Svati H and Kraus, William E and Davies, Robert and Nikpay, Majid and Johansen, Christopher T and Wang, Jian and Hegele, Robert A and Hechter, Eliana and M{\"a}rz, Winfried and Kleber, Marcus E and Huang, Jie and Johnson, Andrew D and Li, Mingyao and Burke, Greg L and Gross, Myron and Liu, Yongmei and Assimes, Themistocles L and Heiss, Gerardo and Lange, Ethan M and Folsom, Aaron R and Taylor, Herman A and Olivieri, Oliviero and Hamsten, Anders and Clarke, Robert and Reilly, Dermot F and Yin, Wu and Rivas, Manuel A and Donnelly, Peter and Rossouw, Jacques E and Psaty, Bruce M and Herrington, David M and Wilson, James G and Rich, Stephen S and Bamshad, Michael J and Tracy, Russell P and Cupples, L Adrienne and Rader, Daniel J and Reilly, Muredach P and Spertus, John A and Cresci, Sharon and Hartiala, Jaana and Tang, W H Wilson and Hazen, Stanley L and Allayee, Hooman and Reiner, Alex P and Carlson, Christopher S and Kooperberg, Charles and Jackson, Rebecca D and Boerwinkle, Eric and Lander, Eric S and Schwartz, Stephen M and Siscovick, David S and McPherson, Ruth and Tybjaerg-Hansen, Anne and Abecasis, Goncalo R and Watkins, Hugh and Nickerson, Deborah A and Ardissino, Diego and Sunyaev, Shamil R and O{\textquoteright}Donnell, Christopher J and Altshuler, David and Gabriel, Stacey and Kathiresan, Sekar} } @article {6686, title = {Low-frequency and rare exome chip variants associate with fasting glucose and type 2 diabetes susceptibility.}, journal = {Nat Commun}, volume = {6}, year = {2015}, month = {2015}, pages = {5897}, abstract = {

Fasting glucose and insulin are intermediate traits for type 2 diabetes. Here we explore the role of coding variation on these traits by analysis of variants on the HumanExome BeadChip in 60,564 non-diabetic individuals and in 16,491 T2D cases and 81,877 controls. We identify a novel association of a low-frequency nonsynonymous SNV in GLP1R (A316T; rs10305492; MAF=1.4\%) with lower FG (β=-0.09{\textpm}0.01 mmol l(-1), P=3.4 {\texttimes} 10(-12)), T2D risk (OR[95\%CI]=0.86[0.76-0.96], P=0.010), early insulin secretion (β=-0.07{\textpm}0.035 pmolinsulin mmolglucose(-1), P=0.048), but higher 2-h glucose (β=0.16{\textpm}0.05 mmol l(-1), P=4.3 {\texttimes} 10(-4)). We identify a gene-based association with FG at G6PC2 (pSKAT=6.8 {\texttimes} 10(-6)) driven by four rare protein-coding SNVs (H177Y, Y207S, R283X and S324P). We identify rs651007 (MAF=20\%) in the first intron of ABO at the putative promoter of an antisense lncRNA, associating with higher FG (β=0.02{\textpm}0.004 mmol l(-1), P=1.3 {\texttimes} 10(-8)). Our approach identifies novel coding variant associations and extends the allelic spectrum of variation underlying diabetes-related quantitative traits and T2D susceptibility.

}, keywords = {African Continental Ancestry Group, Blood Glucose, Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2, European Continental Ancestry Group, Exome, Fasting, Genetic Association Studies, Genetic Loci, Genetic Predisposition to Disease, Genetic Variation, Glucagon-Like Peptide-1 Receptor, Glucose-6-Phosphatase, Humans, Insulin, Mutation Rate, Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide}, issn = {2041-1723}, doi = {10.1038/ncomms6897}, author = {Wessel, Jennifer and Chu, Audrey Y and Willems, Sara M and Wang, Shuai and Yaghootkar, Hanieh and Brody, Jennifer A and Dauriz, Marco and Hivert, Marie-France and Raghavan, Sridharan and Lipovich, Leonard and Hidalgo, Bertha and Fox, Keolu and Huffman, Jennifer E and An, Ping and Lu, Yingchang and Rasmussen-Torvik, Laura J and Grarup, Niels and Ehm, Margaret G and Li, Li and Baldridge, Abigail S and Stan{\v c}{\'a}kov{\'a}, Alena and Abrol, Ravinder and Besse, C{\'e}line and Boland, Anne and Bork-Jensen, Jette and Fornage, Myriam and Freitag, Daniel F and Garcia, Melissa E and Guo, Xiuqing and Hara, Kazuo and Isaacs, Aaron and Jakobsdottir, Johanna and Lange, Leslie A and Layton, Jill C and Li, Man and Hua Zhao, Jing and Meidtner, Karina and Morrison, Alanna C and Nalls, Mike A and Peters, Marjolein J and Sabater-Lleal, Maria and Schurmann, Claudia and Silveira, Angela and Smith, Albert V and Southam, Lorraine and Stoiber, Marcus H and Strawbridge, Rona J and Taylor, Kent D and Varga, Tibor V and Allin, Kristine H and Amin, Najaf and Aponte, Jennifer L and Aung, Tin and Barbieri, Caterina and Bihlmeyer, Nathan A and Boehnke, Michael and Bombieri, Cristina and Bowden, Donald W and Burns, Sean M and Chen, Yuning and Chen, Yii-DerI and Cheng, Ching-Yu and Correa, Adolfo and Czajkowski, Jacek and Dehghan, Abbas and Ehret, Georg B and Eiriksdottir, Gudny and Escher, Stefan A and Farmaki, Aliki-Eleni and Fr{\r a}nberg, Mattias and Gambaro, Giovanni and Giulianini, Franco and Goddard, William A and Goel, Anuj and Gottesman, Omri and Grove, Megan L and Gustafsson, Stefan and Hai, Yang and Hallmans, G{\"o}ran and Heo, Jiyoung and Hoffmann, Per and Ikram, Mohammad K and Jensen, Richard A and J{\o}rgensen, Marit E and J{\o}rgensen, Torben and Karaleftheri, Maria and Khor, Chiea C and Kirkpatrick, Andrea and Kraja, Aldi T and Kuusisto, Johanna and Lange, Ethan M and Lee, I T and Lee, Wen-Jane and Leong, Aaron and Liao, Jiemin and Liu, Chunyu and Liu, Yongmei and Lindgren, Cecilia M and Linneberg, Allan and Malerba, Giovanni and Mamakou, Vasiliki and Marouli, Eirini and Maruthur, Nisa M and Matchan, Angela and McKean-Cowdin, Roberta and McLeod, Olga and Metcalf, Ginger A and Mohlke, Karen L and Muzny, Donna M and Ntalla, Ioanna and Palmer, Nicholette D and Pasko, Dorota and Peter, Andreas and Rayner, Nigel W and Renstrom, Frida and Rice, Ken and Sala, Cinzia F and Sennblad, Bengt and Serafetinidis, Ioannis and Smith, Jennifer A and Soranzo, Nicole and Speliotes, Elizabeth K and Stahl, Eli A and Stirrups, Kathleen and Tentolouris, Nikos and Thanopoulou, Anastasia and Torres, Mina and Traglia, Michela and Tsafantakis, Emmanouil and Javad, Sundas and Yanek, Lisa R and Zengini, Eleni and Becker, Diane M and Bis, Joshua C and Brown, James B and Cupples, L Adrienne and Hansen, Torben and Ingelsson, Erik and Karter, Andrew J and Lorenzo, Carlos and Mathias, Rasika A and Norris, Jill M and Peloso, Gina M and Sheu, Wayne H-H and Toniolo, Daniela and Vaidya, Dhananjay and Varma, Rohit and Wagenknecht, Lynne E and Boeing, Heiner and Bottinger, Erwin P and Dedoussis, George and Deloukas, Panos and Ferrannini, Ele and Franco, Oscar H and Franks, Paul W and Gibbs, Richard A and Gudnason, Vilmundur and Hamsten, Anders and Harris, Tamara B and Hattersley, Andrew T and Hayward, Caroline and Hofman, Albert and Jansson, Jan-H{\r a}kan and Langenberg, Claudia and Launer, Lenore J and Levy, Daniel and Oostra, Ben A and O{\textquoteright}Donnell, Christopher J and O{\textquoteright}Rahilly, Stephen and Padmanabhan, Sandosh and Pankow, James S and Polasek, Ozren and Province, Michael A and Rich, Stephen S and Ridker, Paul M and Rudan, Igor and Schulze, Matthias B and Smith, Blair H and Uitterlinden, Andr{\'e} G and Walker, Mark and Watkins, Hugh and Wong, Tien Y and Zeggini, Eleftheria and Laakso, Markku and Borecki, Ingrid B and Chasman, Daniel I and Pedersen, Oluf and Psaty, Bruce M and Tai, E Shyong and van Duijn, Cornelia M and Wareham, Nicholas J and Waterworth, Dawn M and Boerwinkle, Eric and Kao, W H Linda and Florez, Jose C and Loos, Ruth J F and Wilson, James G and Frayling, Timothy M and Siscovick, David S and Dupuis, Jos{\'e}e and Rotter, Jerome I and Meigs, James B and Scott, Robert A and Goodarzi, Mark O} } @article {6809, title = {Plasma Levels of Soluble Interleukin-2 Receptor α: Associations With Clinical Cardiovascular Events and Genome-Wide Association Scan.}, journal = {Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol}, volume = {35}, year = {2015}, month = {2015 Oct}, pages = {2246-53}, abstract = {

OBJECTIVE: Interleukin (IL) -2 receptor subunit α regulates lymphocyte activation, which plays an important role in atherosclerosis. Associations between soluble IL-2Rα (sIL-2Rα) and cardiovascular disease (CVD) have not been widely studied and little is known about the genetic determinants of sIL-2Rα levels.

APPROACH AND RESULTS: We measured baseline levels of sIL-2Rα in 4408 European American (EA) and 766 African American (AA) adults from the Cardiovascular Health Study (CHS) and examined associations with baseline CVD risk factors, subclinical CVD, and incident CVD events. We also performed a genome-wide association study for sIL-2Rα in CHS (2964 EAs and 683 AAs) and further combined CHS EA results with those from two other EA cohorts in a meta-analysis (n=4464 EAs). In age, sex- and race- adjusted models, sIL-2Rα was positively associated with current smoking, type 2 diabetes mellitus, hypertension, insulin, waist circumference, C-reactive protein, IL-6, fibrinogen, internal carotid wall thickness, all-cause mortality, CVD mortality, and incident CVD, stroke, and heart failure. When adjusted for baseline CVD risk factors and subclinical CVD, associations with all-cause mortality, CVD mortality, and heart failure remained significant in both EAs and AAs. In the EA genome-wide association study analysis, we observed 52 single-nucleotide polymorphisms in the chromosome 10p15-14 region, which contains IL2RA, IL15RA, and RMB17, that reached genome-wide significance (P<5{\texttimes}10(-8)). The most significant single-nucleotide polymorphism was rs7911500 (P=1.31{\texttimes}10(-75)). The EA meta-analysis results were highly consistent with CHS-only results. No single-nucleotide polymorphisms reached statistical significance in the AAs.

CONCLUSIONS: These results support a role for sIL-2Rα in atherosclerosis and provide evidence for multiple-associated single-nucleotide polymorphisms at chromosome 10p15-14.

}, keywords = {Adult, African Americans, Age Distribution, Aged, Cardiovascular Diseases, Cohort Studies, Coronary Artery Disease, Female, Genetic Predisposition to Disease, Genome-Wide Association Study, Humans, Incidence, Interleukin-2 Receptor alpha Subunit, Kaplan-Meier Estimate, Male, Middle Aged, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide, Proportional Hazards Models, Prospective Studies, Risk Assessment, Sex Distribution, Survival Analysis}, issn = {1524-4636}, doi = {10.1161/ATVBAHA.115.305289}, author = {Durda, Peter and Sabourin, Jeremy and Lange, Ethan M and Nalls, Mike A and Mychaleckyj, Josyf C and Jenny, Nancy Swords and Li, Jin and Walston, Jeremy and Harris, Tamara B and Psaty, Bruce M and Valdar, William and Liu, Yongmei and Cushman, Mary and Reiner, Alex P and Tracy, Russell P and Lange, Leslie A} } @article {9245, title = {Circulating Soluble CD163, Associations With Cardiovascular Outcomes and Mortality, and Identification of Genetic Variants in Older Individuals: The Cardiovascular Health Study.}, journal = {J Am Heart Assoc}, volume = {11}, year = {2022}, month = {2022 Nov}, pages = {e024374}, abstract = {

Background Monocytes/macrophages participate in cardiovascular disease. CD163 (cluster of differentiation 163) is a monocyte/macrophage receptor, and the shed sCD163 (soluble CD163) reflects monocyte/macrophage activation. We examined the association of sCD163 with incident cardiovascular disease events and performed a genome-wide association study to identify sCD163-associated variants. Methods and Results We measured plasma sCD163 in 5214 adults (aged >=65 years, 58.7\% women, 16.2\% Black) of the CHS (Cardiovascular Health Study). We used Cox regression models (associations of sCD163 with incident events and mortality); median follow-up was 26 years. Genome-wide association study analyses were stratified on race. Adjusted for age, sex, and race and ethnicity, sCD163 levels were associated with all-cause mortality (hazard ratio [HR], 1.08 [95\% CI, 1.04-1.12] per SD increase), cardiovascular disease mortality (HR, 1.15 [95\% CI, 1.09-1.21]), incident coronary heart disease (HR, 1.10 [95\% CI, 1.04-1.16]), and incident heart failure (HR, 1.18 [95\% CI, 1.12-1.25]). When further adjusted (eg, cardiovascular disease risk factors), only incident coronary heart disease lost significance. In European American individuals, genome-wide association studies identified 38 variants on chromosome 2 near (top result rs62165726, =3.3{\texttimes}10),19 variants near chromosome 17 gene (rs55714927, =1.5{\texttimes}10), and 18 variants near chromosome 11 gene . These regions replicated in the European ancestry ADDITION-PRO cohort, a longitudinal cohort study nested in the Danish arm of the Anglo-Danish-Dutch~study~of~Intensive~Treatment~Intensive Treatment In peOple with screeNdetcted Diabetes in Primary Care. In Black individuals, we identified 9 variants on chromosome 6 (rs3129781 =7.1{\texttimes}10) in the region, and 3 variants (rs115391969 =4.3{\texttimes}10) near the chromosome 16 gene Conclusions Monocyte function, as measured by sCD163, may be predictive of overall and cardiovascular-specific mortality and incident heart failure.

}, keywords = {Aged, Antigens, CD, Antigens, Differentiation, Myelomonocytic, Asialoglycoprotein Receptor, Biomarkers, Cardiovascular Diseases, Female, Genome-Wide Association Study, Heart Failure, Humans, Longitudinal Studies, Male}, issn = {2047-9980}, doi = {10.1161/JAHA.121.024374}, author = {Durda, Peter and Raffield, Laura M and Lange, Ethan M and Olson, Nels C and Jenny, Nancy Swords and Cushman, Mary and Deichgraeber, Pia and Grarup, Niels and Jonsson, Anna and Hansen, Torben and Mychaleckyj, Josyf C and Psaty, Bruce M and Reiner, Alex P and Tracy, Russell P and Lange, Leslie A} } @article {9581, title = {Whole genome sequence analysis of apparent treatment resistant hypertension status in participants from the Trans-Omics for Precision Medicine program.}, journal = {Front Genet}, volume = {14}, year = {2023}, month = {2023}, pages = {1278215}, abstract = {

Apparent treatment-resistant hypertension (aTRH) is characterized by the use of four or more antihypertensive (AHT) classes to achieve blood pressure (BP) control. In the current study, we conducted single-variant and gene-based analyses of aTRH among individuals from 12 Trans-Omics for Precision Medicine cohorts with whole-genome sequencing data. Cases were defined as individuals treated for hypertension (HTN) taking three different AHT classes, with average systolic BP >= 140 or diastolic BP >= 90~mmHg, or four or more medications regardless of BP ( = 1,705). A normotensive control group was defined as individuals with BP < 140/90~mmHg ( = 22,079), not on AHT medication. A second control group comprised individuals who were treatment responsive on one AHT medication with BP < 140/ 90~mmHg ( = 5,424). Logistic regression with kinship adjustment using the Scalable and Accurate Implementation of Generalized mixed models (SAIGE) was performed, adjusting for age, sex, and genetic ancestry. We assessed variants using SKAT-O in rare-variant analyses. Single-variant and gene-based tests were conducted in a pooled multi-ethnicity stratum, as well as self-reported ethnic/racial strata (European and African American). One variant in the known HTN locus, , was a top finding in the multi-ethnic analysis ( = 8.23E-07) for the normotensive control group [rs12476527, odds ratio (95\% confidence interval) = 0.80 (0.74-0.88)]. This variant was replicated in the Vanderbilt University Medical Center{\textquoteright}s DNA repository data. Aggregate gene-based signals included the genes and . Additional work validating these loci in larger, more diverse populations, is warranted to determine whether these regions influence the pathobiology of aTRH.

}, issn = {1664-8021}, doi = {10.3389/fgene.2023.1278215}, author = {Armstrong, Nicole D and Srinivasasainagendra, Vinodh and Ammous, Farah and Assimes, Themistocles L and Beitelshees, Amber L and Brody, Jennifer and Cade, Brian E and Ida Chen, Yii-Der and Chen, Han and de Vries, Paul S and Floyd, James S and Franceschini, Nora and Guo, Xiuqing and Hellwege, Jacklyn N and House, John S and Hwu, Chii-Min and Kardia, Sharon L R and Lange, Ethan M and Lange, Leslie A and McDonough, Caitrin W and Montasser, May E and O{\textquoteright}Connell, Jeffrey R and Shuey, Megan M and Sun, Xiao and Tanner, Rikki M and Wang, Zhe and Zhao, Wei and Carson, April P and Edwards, Todd L and Kelly, Tanika N and Kenny, Eimear E and Kooperberg, Charles and Loos, Ruth J F and Morrison, Alanna C and Motsinger-Reif, Alison and Psaty, Bruce M and Rao, Dabeeru C and Redline, Susan and Rich, Stephen S and Rotter, Jerome I and Smith, Jennifer A and Smith, Albert V and Irvin, Marguerite R and Arnett, Donna K} } @article {9484, title = {WHOLE GENOME SEQUENCING ANALYSIS OF BODY MASS INDEX IDENTIFIES NOVEL AFRICAN ANCESTRY-SPECIFIC RISK ALLELE.}, journal = {medRxiv}, year = {2023}, month = {2023 Aug 22}, abstract = {

Obesity is a major public health crisis associated with high mortality rates. Previous genome-wide association studies (GWAS) investigating body mass index (BMI) have largely relied on imputed data from European individuals. This study leveraged whole-genome sequencing (WGS) data from 88,873 participants from the Trans-Omics for Precision Medicine (TOPMed) Program, of which 51\% were of non-European population groups. We discovered 18 BMI-associated signals ( < 5 {\texttimes} 10 ). Notably, we identified and replicated a novel low frequency single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) in that was common in individuals of African descent. Using a diverse study population, we further identified two novel secondary signals in known BMI loci and pinpointed two likely causal variants in the and loci. Our work demonstrates the benefits of combining WGS and diverse cohorts in expanding current catalog of variants and genes confer risk for obesity, bringing us one step closer to personalized medicine.

}, doi = {10.1101/2023.08.21.23293271}, author = {Zhang, Xinruo and Brody, Jennifer A and Graff, Mariaelisa and Highland, Heather M and Chami, Nathalie and Xu, Hanfei and Wang, Zhe and Ferrier, Kendra and Chittoor, Geetha and Josyula, Navya S and Li, Xihao and Li, Zilin and Allison, Matthew A and Becker, Diane M and Bielak, Lawrence F and Bis, Joshua C and Boorgula, Meher Preethi and Bowden, Donald W and Broome, Jai G and Buth, Erin J and Carlson, Christopher S and Chang, Kyong-Mi and Chavan, Sameer and Chiu, Yen-Feng and Chuang, Lee-Ming and Conomos, Matthew P and DeMeo, Dawn L and Du, Margaret and Duggirala, Ravindranath and Eng, Celeste and Fohner, Alison E and Freedman, Barry I and Garrett, Melanie E and Guo, Xiuqing and Haiman, Chris and Heavner, Benjamin D and Hidalgo, Bertha and Hixson, James E and Ho, Yuk-Lam and Hobbs, Brian D and Hu, Donglei and Hui, Qin and Hwu, Chii-Min and Jackson, Rebecca D and Jain, Deepti and Kalyani, Rita R and Kardia, Sharon L R and Kelly, Tanika N and Lange, Ethan M and LeNoir, Michael and Li, Changwei and Marchand, Loic Le and McDonald, Merry-Lynn N and McHugh, Caitlin P and Morrison, Alanna C and Naseri, Take and O{\textquoteright}Connell, Jeffrey and O{\textquoteright}Donnell, Christopher J and Palmer, Nicholette D and Pankow, James S and Perry, James A and Peters, Ulrike and Preuss, Michael H and Rao, D C and Regan, Elizabeth A and Reupena, Sefuiva M and Roden, Dan M and Rodriguez-Santana, Jose and Sitlani, Colleen M and Smith, Jennifer A and Tiwari, Hemant K and Vasan, Ramachandran S and Wang, Zeyuan and Weeks, Daniel E and Wessel, Jennifer and Wiggins, Kerri L and Wilkens, Lynne R and Wilson, Peter W F and Yanek, Lisa R and Yoneda, Zachary T and Zhao, Wei and Z{\"o}llner, Sebastian and Arnett, Donna K and Ashley-Koch, Allison E and Barnes, Kathleen C and Blangero, John and Boerwinkle, Eric and Burchard, Esteban G and Carson, April P and Chasman, Daniel I and Chen, Yii-Der Ida and Curran, Joanne E and Fornage, Myriam and Gordeuk, Victor R and He, Jiang and Heckbert, Susan R and Hou, Lifang and Irvin, Marguerite R and Kooperberg, Charles and Minster, Ryan L and Mitchell, Braxton D and Nouraie, Mehdi and Psaty, Bruce M and Raffield, Laura M and Reiner, Alexander P and Rich, Stephen S and Rotter, Jerome I and Shoemaker, M Benjamin and Smith, Nicholas L and Taylor, Kent D and Telen, Marilyn J and Weiss, Scott T and Zhang, Yingze and Costa, Nancy Heard- and Sun, Yan V and Lin, Xihong and Cupples, L Adrienne and Lange, Leslie A and Liu, Ching-Ti and Loos, Ruth J F and North, Kari E and Justice, Anne E} }