Common genetic contributions to plasma lipoprotein profile determined by large scale, genome-wide genetic analysis
Using highly precise measurements of plasma lipoprotein concentrations determined by nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (NMR), researchers led by Daniel Chasman at Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston, MA, the Framingham Heart Study in Framingham, and the PROCARDIS consortium in Stockholm, Sweden and Oxford, England performed genetic association analysis across the whole genome among 17,296 women of European ancestry from the Women's Genome Health Study. This large scale analysis of the effects of common genetic variation on plasma lipoprotein profile, a critical component of cardiovascular risk, identified 43 genetic loci contributing to lipoprotein metabolism, including 10 loci not previously recognized in other whole genome analyses. The findings are published on November 20 in the open-access journal PLoS Genetics.
The findings were validated among additional populations of both men and women. The research also quantifies the contribution of common genetic variation to the concentration of plasma lipoproteins according to class, that is low-density lipoprotein (LDL), high-density lipoprotein (HDL), or very low density lipoprotein (VLDL), as well as size and cholesterol or triglyceride content.