Effect of the PPARG2 Pro12Ala Polymorphism on Associations of Physical Activity and Sedentary Time with Markers of Insulin Sensitivity in Those with an Elevated Risk of Type 2 Diabetes

BACKGROUND: Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPARγ) is an important regulator of metabolic health and a common polymorphism in the PPAR-γ2 gene (PPARG2) may modify associations between lifestyle behaviour and health. OBJECTIVE: To investigate whether the PPARG2 Pro12Ala genotype modifies the associations of sedentary behaviour and moderate-to-vigorous intensity physical activity (MVPA) with common measures of insulin sensitivity. METHODS: Participants with a high risk of impaired glucose regulation were recruited, United Kingdom, 2010-2011. Sedentary and MVPA time were objectively measured using accelerometers. Fasting and 2-hour post-challenge insulin and glucose were assessed; insulin sensitivity was calculated using Matsuda-ISI and HOMA-IS. DNA was extracted from whole blood. Linear regression examined associations of sedentary time and MVPA with insulin sensitivity and examined interactions by PPARG2 Pro12Ala genotype. RESULTS: 541 subjects were included (average age = 65 years, female = 33%); 18% carried the Ala12 allele. Both sedentary time and MVPA were strongly associated with HOMA-IS and Matsuda-ISI after adjustment for age, sex, ethnicity, medication, smoking status and accelerometer wear time. After further adjustment for each other and BMI, only associations with Matsuda-ISI were maintained. Every 30 minute difference in sedentary time was inversely associated with a 4% (0, 8%; p = 0.043) difference in Matsuda-ISI, whereas every 30 minutes in MVPA was positively associated with a 13% (0, 26%; p = 0.048) difference. The association of MVPA with Matsuda-ISI was modified by genotype (p = 0.005) and only maintained in Ala12 allele carriers. Conversely, sedentary time was not modified by genotype and remained inversely associated with insulin sensitivity in Pro12 allele homozygotes. CONCLUSION: The association of MVPA with Matsuda-ISI was modified by PPARG2 Pro12Ala genotype with significant associations only observed in the 18% of the population who carried the Ala12 allele, whereas associations with sedentary time were unaffected

Genome wide association studies: identifying the genes that determine the risk of abdominal aortic aneurysm

Genome wide association studies: identifying the genes that determine the risk of abdominal aortic aneurys

Common Genetic Determinants of Lung Function, Subclinical Atherosclerosis and Risk of Coronary Artery Disease

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) independently associates with an increased risk of coronary artery disease (CAD), but it has not been fully investigated whether this co-morbidity involves shared pathophysiological mechanisms. To identify potential common pathways across the two diseases, we tested all recently published single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) associated with human lung function (spirometry) for association with carotid intima-media thickness (cIMT) in 3,378 subjects with multiple CAD risk factors, and for association with CAD in a case-control study of 5,775 CAD cases and 7,265 controls. SNPs rs2865531, located in the CFDP1 gene, and rs9978142, located in the KCNE2 gene, were significantly associated with CAD. In addition, SNP rs9978142 and SNP rs3995090 located in the HTR4 gene, were associated with average and maximal cIMT measures. Genetic risk scores combining the most robustly spirometry-associated SNPs from the literature were modestly associated with CAD, (odds ratio (OR) (95% confidence interval (CI[subscript: 95]) = 1.06 (1.03, 1.09); P-value = 1.5 × 10[superscript: -4], per allele). In conclusion, our study suggests that some genetic loci implicated in determining human lung function also influence cIMT and susceptibility to CAD. The present results should help elucidate the molecular underpinnings of the co-morbidity observed across COPD and CAD

Common Genetic Determinants of Lung Function, Subclinical Atherosclerosis and Risk of Coronary Artery Disease

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) independently associates with an increased risk of coronary artery disease (CAD), but it has not been fully investigated whether this co-morbidity involves shared pathophysiological mechanisms. To identify potential common pathways across the two diseases, we tested all recently published single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) associated with human lung function (spirometry) for association with carotid intima-media thickness (cIMT) in 3,378 subjects with multiple CAD risk factors, and for association with CAD in a case-control study of 5,775 CAD cases and 7,265 controls. SNPs rs2865531, located in the CFDP1 gene, and rs9978142, located in the KCNE2 gene, were significantly associated with CAD. In addition, SNP rs9978142 and SNP rs3995090 located in the HTR4 gene, were associated with average and maximal cIMT measures. Genetic risk scores combining the most robustly spirometry-associated SNPs from the literature were modestly associated with CAD, (odds ratio (OR) (95% confidence interval (CI[subscript: 95]) = 1.06 (1.03, 1.09); P-value = 1.5 × 10[superscript: -4], per allele). In conclusion, our study suggests that some genetic loci implicated in determining human lung function also influence cIMT and susceptibility to CAD. The present results should help elucidate the molecular underpinnings of the co-morbidity observed across COPD and CAD

A gene-centric study of common carotid artery remodelling

BACKGROUND: Expansive remodelling is the process of compensatory arterial enlargement in response to atherosclerotic stimuli. The genetic determinants of this process are poorly characterized. METHODS: Genetic association analyses of inter-adventitial common carotid artery diameter (ICCAD) in the IMPROVE study (n = 3427) using the Illumina 200k Metabochip was performed. Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) that met array-wide significance were taken forward for analysis in three further studies (n = 5704), and tested for association with Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm (AAA). RESULTS: rs3768445 on Chromosome 1q24.3, in a cluster of protein coding genes (DNM3, PIGC, C1orf105) was associated with larger ICCAD in the IMPROVE study. For each copy of the rare allele carried, ICCAD was on average 0.13 mm greater (95% CI 0.08-0.18 mm, P = 8.2 × 10(-8)). A proxy SNP (rs4916251, R(2) = 0.99) did not, however, show association with ICCAD in three follow-up studies (P for replication = 0.29). There was evidence of interaction between carotid intima-media thickness (CIMT) and rs4916251 on ICCAD in two of the cohorts studies suggesting that it plays a role in the remodelling response to atherosclerosis. In meta-analysis of 5 case-control studies pooling data from 5007 cases and 43,630 controls, rs4916251 was associated with presence of AAA 1.10, 95% CI 1.03-1.17, p = 2.8 × 10(-3), I(2) = 18.8, Q = 0.30). A proxy SNP, rs4916251 was also associated with increased expression of PIGC in aortic tissue, suggesting that this may the mechanism by which this locus affects vascular remodelling. CONCLUSIONS: Common variation at 1q24.3 is associated with expansive vascular remodelling and risk of AAA. These findings support a hypothesis that pathways involved in systemic vascular remodelling play a role in AAA development

Mendelian randomization of blood lipids for coronary heart disease

AIMS: To investigate the causal role of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) and triglycerides in coronary heart disease (CHD) using multiple instrumental variables for Mendelian randomization. METHODS AND RESULTS: We developed weighted allele scores based on single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) with established associations with HDL-C, triglycerides, and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C). For each trait, we constructed two scores. The first was unrestricted, including all independent SNPs associated with the lipid trait identified from a prior meta-analysis (threshold P < 2 × 10(-6)); and the second a restricted score, filtered to remove any SNPs also associated with either of the other two lipid traits at P ≤ 0.01. Mendelian randomization meta-analyses were conducted in 17 studies including 62,199 participants and 12,099 CHD events. Both the unrestricted and restricted allele scores for LDL-C (42 and 19 SNPs, respectively) associated with CHD. For HDL-C, the unrestricted allele score (48 SNPs) was associated with CHD (OR: 0.53; 95% CI: 0.40, 0.70), per 1 mmol/L higher HDL-C, but neither the restricted allele score (19 SNPs; OR: 0.91; 95% CI: 0.42, 1.98) nor the unrestricted HDL-C allele score adjusted for triglycerides, LDL-C, or statin use (OR: 0.81; 95% CI: 0.44, 1.46) showed a robust association. For triglycerides, the unrestricted allele score (67 SNPs) and the restricted allele score (27 SNPs) were both associated with CHD (OR: 1.62; 95% CI: 1.24, 2.11 and 1.61; 95% CI: 1.00, 2.59, respectively) per 1-log unit increment. However, the unrestricted triglyceride score adjusted for HDL-C, LDL-C, and statin use gave an OR for CHD of 1.01 (95% CI: 0.59, 1.75). CONCLUSION: The genetic findings support a causal effect of triglycerides on CHD risk, but a causal role for HDL-C, though possible, remains less certain

Meta-Analysis of Genome-Wide Association Studies for Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm Identifies Four New Disease-Specific Risk Loci

Rationale: Abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) is a complex disease with both genetic and environmental risk factors. Together, 6 previously identified risk loci only explain a small proportion of the heritability of AAA. Objective: To identify additional AAA risk loci using data from all available genome-wide association studies (GWAS). Methods and Results: Through a meta-analysis of 6 GWAS datasets and a validation study totalling 10,204 cases and 107,766 controls we identified 4 new AAA risk loci: 1q32.3 (SMYD2), 13q12.11 (LINC00540), 20q13.12 (near PCIF1/MMP9/ZNF335), and 21q22.2 (ERG). In various database searches we observed no new associations between the lead AAA SNPs and coronary artery disease, blood pressure, lipids or diabetes. Network analyses identified ERG, IL6R and LDLR as modifiers of MMP9, with a direct interaction between ERG and MMP9. Conclusions: The 4 new risk loci for AAA appear to be specific for AAA compared with other cardiovascular diseases and related traits suggesting that traditional cardiovascular risk factor management may only have limited value in preventing the progression of aneurysmal disease

Blood pressure loci identified with a gene-centric array

Raised blood pressure (BP) is a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease. Previous studies have identified 47 distinct genetic variants robustly associated with BP, but collectively these explain only a few percent of the heritability for BP phenotypes. To find additional BP loci, we used a bespoke gene-centric array to genotype an independent discovery sample of 25,118 individuals that combined hypertensive case-control and general population samples. We followed up four SNPs associated with BP at our p < 8.56 × 10−7 study-specific significance threshold and six suggestively associated SNPs in a further 59,349 individuals. We identified and replicated a SNP at LSP1/TNNT3, a SNP at MTHFR-NPPB independent (r2 = 0.33) of previous reports, and replicated SNPs at AGT and ATP2B1 reported previously. An analysis of combined discovery and follow-up data identified SNPs significantly associated with BP at p < 8.56 × 10−7 at four further loci (NPR3, HFE, NOS3, and SOX6). The high number of discoveries made with modest genotyping effort can be attributed to using a large-scale yet targeted genotyping array and to the development of a weighting scheme that maximized power when meta-analyzing results from samples ascertained with extreme phenotypes, in combination with results from nonascertained or population samples. Chromatin immunoprecipitation and transcript expression data highlight potential gene regulatory mechanisms at the MTHFR and NOS3 loci. These results provide candidates for further study to help dissect mechanisms affecting BP and highlight the utility of studying SNPs and samples that are independent of those studied previously even when the sample size is smaller than that in previous studies

A rare variant in APOC3 is associated with plasma triglyceride and VLDL levels in Europeans

The analysis of rich catalogues of genetic variation from population-based sequencing provides an opportunity to screen for functional effects. Here we report a rare variant in APOC3 (rs138326449-A, minor allele frequency ∼0.25% (UK)) associated with plasma triglyceride (TG) levels (-1.43 s.d. (s.e.=0.27 per minor allele (P-value=8.0 × 10 -8)) discovered in 3,202 individuals with low read-depth, whole-genome sequence. We replicate this in 12,831 participants from five additional samples of Northern and Southern European origin (-1.0 s.d. (s.e.=0.173), P-value=7.32 × 10 -9). This is consistent with an effect between 0.5 and 1.5 mmol l -1 dependent on population. We show that a single predicted splice donor variant is responsible for association signals and is independent of known common variants. Analyses suggest an independent relationship between rs138326449 and high-density lipoprotein (HDL) levels. This represents one of the first examples of a rare, large effect variant identified from whole-genome sequencing at a population scale

Sex-stratified genoSex-stratified Genome-wide Association Studies Including 270,000 Individuals Show Sexual Dimorphism in Genetic Loci for Anthropometric Traits

Given the anthropometric differences between men and women and previous evidence of sex-difference in genetic effects, we conducted a genome-wide search for sexually dimorphic associations with height, weight, body mass index, waist circumference, hip circumference, and waist-to-hip-ratio (133,723 individuals) and took forward 348 SNPs into follow-up (additional 137,052 individuals) in a total of 94 studies. Seven loci displayed significant sex-difference (FDR<5%), including four previously established (near GRB14/COBLL1, LYPLAL1/SLC30A10, VEGFA, ADAMTS9) and three novel anthropometric trait loci (near MAP3K1, HSD17B4, PPARG), all of which were genome-wide significant in women (P<5×10(-8)), but not in men. Sex-differences were apparent only for waist phenotypes, not for height, weight, BMI, or hip circumference. Moreover, we found no evidence for genetic effects with opposite directions in men versus women. The PPARG locus is of specific interest due to its role in diabetes genetics and therapy. Our results demonstrate the value of sex-specific GWAS to unravel the sexually dimorphic genetic underpinning of complex traits