@article {1153, title = {Association of novel genetic Loci with circulating fibrinogen levels: a genome-wide association study in 6 population-based cohorts.}, journal = {Circ Cardiovasc Genet}, volume = {2}, year = {2009}, month = {2009 Apr}, pages = {125-33}, abstract = {

BACKGROUND: Fibrinogen is both central to blood coagulation and an acute-phase reactant. We aimed to identify common variants influencing circulation fibrinogen levels.

METHODS AND RESULTS: We conducted a genome-wide association analysis on 6 population-based studies, the Rotterdam Study, the Framingham Heart Study, the Cardiovascular Health Study, the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities Study, the Monitoring of Trends and Determinants in Cardiovascular Disease/KORA Augsburg Study, and the British 1958 Birth Cohort Study, including 22 096 participants of European ancestry. Four loci were marked by 1 or more single-nucleotide polymorphisms that demonstrated genome-wide significance (P<5.0 x 10(-8)). These included a single-nucleotide polymorphism located in the fibrinogen beta chain (FGB) gene and 3 single-nucleotide polymorphisms representing newly identified loci. The high-signal single-nucleotide polymorphisms were rs1800789 in exon 7 of FGB (P=1.8 x 10(-30)), rs2522056 downstream from the interferon regulatory factor 1 (IRF1) gene (P=1.3 x 10(-15)), rs511154 within intron 1 of the propionyl coenzyme A carboxylase (PCCB) gene (P=5.9 x 10(-10)), and rs1539019 on the NLR family pyrin domain containing 3 isoforms (NLRP3) gene (P=1.04 x 10(-8)).

CONCLUSIONS: Our findings highlight biological pathways that may be important in regulation of inflammation underlying cardiovascular disease.

}, keywords = {Adult, Aged, Aged, 80 and over, Cardiovascular Diseases, Cohort Studies, European Continental Ancestry Group, Female, Fibrinogen, Genetic Loci, Genome-Wide Association Study, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Pedigree, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide, Young Adult}, issn = {1942-3268}, doi = {10.1161/CIRCGENETICS.108.825224}, author = {Dehghan, Abbas and Yang, Qiong and Peters, Annette and Basu, Saonli and Bis, Joshua C and Rudnicka, Alicja R and Kavousi, Maryam and Chen, Ming-Huei and Baumert, Jens and Lowe, Gordon D O and McKnight, Barbara and Tang, Weihong and de Maat, Moniek and Larson, Martin G and Eyhermendy, Susana and McArdle, Wendy L and Lumley, Thomas and Pankow, James S and Hofman, Albert and Massaro, Joseph M and Rivadeneira, Fernando and Kolz, Melanie and Taylor, Kent D and van Duijn, Cornelia M and Kathiresan, Sekar and Illig, Thomas and Aulchenko, Yurii S and Volcik, Kelly A and Johnson, Andrew D and Uitterlinden, Andr{\'e} G and Tofler, Geoffrey H and Gieger, Christian and Psaty, Bruce M and Couper, David J and Boerwinkle, Eric and Koenig, Wolfgang and O{\textquoteright}Donnell, Christopher J and Witteman, Jacqueline C and Strachan, David P and Smith, Nicholas L and Folsom, Aaron R} } @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 {5857, title = {Association of genome-wide variation with highly sensitive cardiac troponin-T levels in European Americans and Blacks: a meta-analysis from atherosclerosis risk in communities and cardiovascular health studies.}, journal = {Circ Cardiovasc Genet}, volume = {6}, year = {2013}, month = {2013 Feb}, pages = {82-8}, abstract = {

BACKGROUND: High levels of cardiac troponin T, measured by a highly sensitive assay (hs-cTnT), are strongly associated with incident coronary heart disease and heart failure. To date, no large-scale genome-wide association study of hs-cTnT has been reported. We sought to identify novel genetic variants that are associated with hs-cTnT levels.

METHODS AND RESULTS: We performed a genome-wide association in 9491 European Americans and 2053 blacks free of coronary heart disease and heart failure from 2 prospective cohorts: the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities Study and the Cardiovascular Health Study. Genome-wide association studies were conducted in each study and race stratum. Fixed-effect meta-analyses combined the results of linear regression from 2 cohorts within each race stratum and then across race strata to produce overall estimates and probability values. The meta-analysis identified a significant association at chromosome 8q13 (rs10091374; P=9.06{\texttimes}10(-9)) near the nuclear receptor coactivator 2 (NCOA2) gene. Overexpression of NCOA2 can be detected in myoblasts. An additional analysis using logistic regression and the clinically motivated 99th percentile cut point detected a significant association at 1q32 (rs12564445; P=4.73{\texttimes}10(-8)) in the gene TNNT2, which encodes the cardiac troponin T protein itself. The hs-cTnT-associated single-nucleotide polymorphisms were not associated with coronary heart disease in a large case-control study, but rs12564445 was significantly associated with incident heart failure in Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities Study European Americans (hazard ratio=1.16; P=0.004).

CONCLUSIONS: We identified 2 loci, near NCOA2 and in the TNNT2 gene, at which variation was significantly associated with hs-cTnT levels. Further use of the new assay should enable replication of these results.

}, keywords = {African Continental Ancestry Group, Atherosclerosis, European Continental Ancestry Group, Female, Genome-Wide Association Study, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Nuclear Receptor Coactivator 2, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide, Prospective Studies, Residence Characteristics, Risk Factors, Troponin T}, issn = {1942-3268}, doi = {10.1161/CIRCGENETICS.112.963058}, author = {Yu, Bing and Barbalic, Maja and Brautbar, Ariel and Nambi, Vijay and Hoogeveen, Ron C and Tang, Weihong and Mosley, Thomas H and Rotter, Jerome I and deFilippi, Christopher R and O{\textquoteright}Donnell, Christopher J and Kathiresan, Sekar and Rice, Ken and Heckbert, Susan R and Ballantyne, Christie M and Psaty, Bruce M and Boerwinkle, Eric} } @article {7777, title = {Assessing the causal relationship between obesity and venous thromboembolism through a Mendelian Randomization study.}, journal = {Hum Genet}, volume = {136}, year = {2017}, month = {2017 07}, pages = {897-902}, abstract = {

Observational studies have shown an association between obesity and venous thromboembolism (VTE) but it is not known if observed associations are causal, due to reverse causation or confounding bias. We conducted a Mendelian Randomization study of body mass index (BMI) and VTE. We identified 95 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) that have been previously associated with BMI and assessed the association between genetically predicted high BMI and VTE leveraging data from a previously conducted GWAS within the INVENT consortium comprising a total of 7507 VTE cases and 52,632 controls of European ancestry. Five BMI SNPs were associated with VTE at P~<~0.05, with the strongest association seen for the FTO SNP rs1558902 (OR 1.07, 95\% CI 1.02-1.12, P~=~0.005). In addition, we observed a significant association between genetically predicted BMI and VTE (OR~=~1.59, 95\% CI 1.30-1.93 per standard deviation increase in BMI, P~=~5.8~{\texttimes}~10). Our study provides evidence for a causal relationship between high BMI and risk of VTE. Reducing obesity levels will likely result in lower incidence in VTE.

}, keywords = {Adult, Body Mass Index, Case-Control Studies, European Continental Ancestry Group, Female, Genome-Wide Association Study, Humans, Incidence, Logistic Models, Male, Mendelian Randomization Analysis, Obesity, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide, Proportional Hazards Models, Venous Thromboembolism}, issn = {1432-1203}, doi = {10.1007/s00439-017-1811-x}, author = {Lindstr{\"o}m, Sara and Germain, Marine and Crous-Bou, Marta and Smith, Erin N and Morange, Pierre-Emmanuel and van Hylckama Vlieg, Astrid and de Haan, Hugoline G and Chasman, Daniel and Ridker, Paul and Brody, Jennifer and de Andrade, Mariza and Heit, John A and Tang, Weihong and DeVivo, Immaculata and Grodstein, Francine and Smith, Nicholas L and Tregouet, David and Kabrhel, Christopher} }