@article {6607, title = {The challenges of genome-wide interaction studies: lessons to learn from the analysis of HDL blood levels.}, journal = {PLoS One}, volume = {9}, year = {2014}, month = {2014}, pages = {e109290}, abstract = {

Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have revealed 74 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) associated with high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL) blood levels. This study is, to our knowledge, the first genome-wide interaction study (GWIS) to identify SNP{\texttimes}SNP interactions associated with HDL levels. We performed a GWIS in the Rotterdam Study (RS) cohort I (RS-I) using the GLIDE tool which leverages the massively parallel computing power of Graphics Processing Units (GPUs) to perform linear regression on all genome-wide pairs of SNPs. By performing a meta-analysis together with Rotterdam Study cohorts II and III (RS-II and RS-III), we were able to filter 181 interaction terms with a p-value<1 {\textperiodcentered} 10-8 that replicated in the two independent cohorts. We were not able to replicate any of these interaction term in the AGES, ARIC, CHS, ERF, FHS and NFBC-66 cohorts (Ntotal = 30,011) when adjusting for multiple testing. Our GWIS resulted in the consistent finding of a possible interaction between rs774801 in ARMC8 (ENSG00000114098) and rs12442098 in SPATA8 (ENSG00000185594) being associated with HDL levels. However, p-values do not reach the preset Bonferroni correction of the p-values. Our study suggest that even for highly genetically determined traits such as HDL the sample sizes needed to detect SNP{\texttimes}SNP interactions are large and the 2-step filtering approaches do not yield a solution. Here we present our analysis plan and our reservations concerning GWIS.

}, keywords = {Cholesterol, HDL, Female, Genome-Wide Association Study, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide}, issn = {1932-6203}, doi = {10.1371/journal.pone.0109290}, author = {van Leeuwen, Elisabeth M and Smouter, Fran{\c c}oise A S and Kam-Thong, Tony and Karbalai, Nazanin and Smith, Albert V and Harris, Tamara B and Launer, Lenore J and Sitlani, Colleen M and Li, Guo and Brody, Jennifer A and Bis, Joshua C and White, Charles C and Jaiswal, Alok and Oostra, Ben A and Hofman, Albert and Rivadeneira, Fernando and Uitterlinden, Andr{\'e} G and Boerwinkle, Eric and Ballantyne, Christie M and Gudnason, Vilmundur and Psaty, Bruce M and Cupples, L Adrienne and Jarvelin, Marjo-Riitta and Ripatti, Samuli and Isaacs, Aaron and M{\"u}ller-Myhsok, Bertram and Karssen, Lennart C and van Duijn, Cornelia M} } @article {6682, title = {Genome of The Netherlands population-specific imputations identify an ABCA6 variant associated with cholesterol levels.}, journal = {Nat Commun}, volume = {6}, year = {2015}, month = {2015}, pages = {6065}, abstract = {

Variants associated with blood lipid levels may be population-specific. To identify low-frequency variants associated with this phenotype, population-specific reference panels may be used. Here we impute nine large Dutch biobanks (~35,000 samples) with the population-specific reference panel created by the Genome of The Netherlands Project and perform association testing with blood lipid levels. We report the discovery of five novel associations at four loci (P value <6.61 {\texttimes} 10(-4)), including a rare missense variant in ABCA6 (rs77542162, p.Cys1359Arg, frequency 0.034), which is predicted to be deleterious. The frequency of this ABCA6 variant is 3.65-fold increased in the Dutch and its effect (βLDL-C=0.135, βTC=0.140) is estimated to be very similar to those observed for single variants in well-known lipid genes, such as LDLR.

}, keywords = {ATP-Binding Cassette Transporters, Cholesterol, Gene Frequency, Genetic Association Studies, Humans, Mutation, Missense, Netherlands}, issn = {2041-1723}, doi = {10.1038/ncomms7065}, author = {van Leeuwen, Elisabeth M and Karssen, Lennart C and Deelen, Joris and Isaacs, Aaron and Medina-G{\'o}mez, Carolina and Mbarek, Hamdi and Kanterakis, Alexandros and Trompet, Stella and Postmus, Iris and Verweij, Niek and van Enckevort, David J and Huffman, Jennifer E and White, Charles C and Feitosa, Mary F and Bartz, Traci M and Manichaikul, Ani and Joshi, Peter K and Peloso, Gina M and Deelen, Patrick and van Dijk, Freerk and Willemsen, Gonneke and de Geus, Eco J and Milaneschi, Yuri and Penninx, Brenda W J H and Francioli, Laurent C and Menelaou, Androniki and Pulit, Sara L and Rivadeneira, Fernando and Hofman, Albert and Oostra, Ben A and Franco, Oscar H and Mateo Leach, Irene and Beekman, Marian and de Craen, Anton J M and Uh, Hae-Won and Trochet, Holly and Hocking, Lynne J and Porteous, David J and Sattar, Naveed and Packard, Chris J and Buckley, Brendan M and Brody, Jennifer A and Bis, Joshua C and Rotter, Jerome I and Mychaleckyj, Josyf C and Campbell, Harry and Duan, Qing and Lange, Leslie A and Wilson, James F and Hayward, Caroline and Polasek, Ozren and Vitart, Veronique and Rudan, Igor and Wright, Alan F and Rich, Stephen S and Psaty, Bruce M and Borecki, Ingrid B and Kearney, Patricia M and Stott, David J and Adrienne Cupples, L and Jukema, J Wouter and van der Harst, Pim and Sijbrands, Eric J and Hottenga, Jouke-Jan and Uitterlinden, Andr{\'e} G and Swertz, Morris A and van Ommen, Gert-Jan B and de Bakker, Paul I W and Eline Slagboom, P and Boomsma, Dorret I and Wijmenga, Cisca and van Duijn, Cornelia M} } @article {7010, title = {Diagnostic Yield and Clinical Utility of Sequencing Familial Hypercholesterolemia Genes in Patients With Severe Hypercholesterolemia.}, journal = {J Am Coll Cardiol}, volume = {67}, year = {2016}, month = {2016 Jun 7}, pages = {2578-89}, abstract = {

BACKGROUND: Approximately 7\% of American adults have severe hypercholesterolemia (untreated low-density lipoprotein [LDL] cholesterol~>=190 mg/dl), which may be due to familial hypercholesterolemia (FH). Lifelong LDL cholesterol elevations in FH mutation carriers may confer coronary artery disease (CAD) risk beyond that captured by~a~single LDL cholesterol measurement.

OBJECTIVES: This study assessed the prevalence of an FH mutation among those with severe hypercholesterolemia and determined whether CAD risk varies according to mutation status beyond the observed LDL cholesterol level.

METHODS: Three genes causative for FH (LDLR, APOB, and PCSK9) were sequenced in 26,025 participants from 7 case-control studies (5,540 CAD case subjects, 8,577 CAD-free control subjects) and 5 prospective cohort studies (11,908 participants). FH mutations included loss-of-function variants in LDLR, missense mutations in LDLR predicted to be damaging, and variants linked to FH in ClinVar, a clinical genetics database.

RESULTS: Among 20,485 CAD-free control and prospective cohort participants, 1,386 (6.7\%) had LDL cholesterol >=190~mg/dl; of these, only 24 (1.7\%) carried an FH mutation. Within any stratum of observed LDL cholesterol, risk of CAD was higher among FH mutation carriers than noncarriers. Compared with a reference group with LDL cholesterol <130 mg/dl and no mutation, participants with LDL cholesterol~>=190 mg/dl and no FH mutation had a 6-fold higher risk for CAD (odds ratio: 6.0; 95\% confidence interval: 5.2 to 6.9), whereas those with both LDL cholesterol~>=190 mg/dl and~an FH mutation demonstrated a 22-fold increased risk (odds ratio: 22.3; 95\% confidence interval: 10.7 to 53.2). In an analysis of participants with serial lipid measurements over many years, FH mutation carriers had higher cumulative exposure to LDL cholesterol than noncarriers.

CONCLUSIONS: Among participants with LDL cholesterol~>=190 mg/dl, gene sequencing identified an FH mutation in~<2\%. However, for any observed LDL cholesterol, FH mutation carriers had substantially increased risk for CAD.

}, issn = {1558-3597}, doi = {10.1016/j.jacc.2016.03.520}, author = {Khera, Amit V and Won, Hong-Hee and Peloso, Gina M and Lawson, Kim S and Bartz, Traci M and Deng, Xuan and van Leeuwen, Elisabeth M and Natarajan, Pradeep and Emdin, Connor A and Bick, Alexander G and Morrison, Alanna C and Brody, Jennifer A and Gupta, Namrata and Nomura, Akihiro and Kessler, Thorsten and Duga, Stefano and Bis, Joshua C and van Duijn, Cornelia M and Cupples, L Adrienne and Psaty, Bruce and Rader, Daniel J and Danesh, John and Schunkert, Heribert and McPherson, Ruth and Farrall, Martin and Watkins, Hugh and Lander, Eric and Wilson, James G and Correa, Adolfo and Boerwinkle, Eric and Merlini, Piera Angelica and Ardissino, Diego and Saleheen, Danish and Gabriel, Stacey and Kathiresan, Sekar} } @article {7011, title = {Meta-analysis of 49 549 individuals imputed with the 1000 Genomes Project reveals an exonic damaging variant in ANGPTL4 determining fasting TG levels.}, journal = {J Med Genet}, volume = {53}, year = {2016}, month = {2016 Jul}, pages = {441-9}, abstract = {

BACKGROUND: So far, more than 170 loci have been associated with circulating lipid levels through genome-wide association studies (GWAS). These associations are largely driven by common variants, their function is often not known, and many are likely to be markers for the causal variants. In this study we aimed to identify more new rare and low-frequency functional variants associated with circulating lipid levels.

METHODS: We used the 1000 Genomes Project as a reference panel for the imputations of GWAS data from \~{}60 000 individuals in the discovery stage and \~{}90 000 samples in the replication stage.

RESULTS: Our study resulted in the identification of five new associations with circulating lipid levels at four loci. All four loci are within genes that can be linked biologically to lipid metabolism. One of the variants, rs116843064, is a damaging missense variant within the ANGPTL4 gene.

CONCLUSIONS: This study illustrates that GWAS with high-scale imputation may still help us unravel the biological mechanism behind circulating lipid levels.

}, issn = {1468-6244}, doi = {10.1136/jmedgenet-2015-103439}, author = {van Leeuwen, Elisabeth M and Sabo, Aniko and Bis, Joshua C and Huffman, Jennifer E and Manichaikul, Ani and Smith, Albert V and Feitosa, Mary F and Demissie, Serkalem and Joshi, Peter K and Duan, Qing and Marten, Jonathan and van Klinken, Jan B and Surakka, Ida and Nolte, Ilja M and Zhang, Weihua and Mbarek, Hamdi and Li-Gao, Ruifang and Trompet, Stella and Verweij, Niek and Evangelou, Evangelos and Lyytik{\"a}inen, Leo-Pekka and Tayo, Bamidele O and Deelen, Joris and van der Most, Peter J and van der Laan, Sander W and Arking, Dan E and Morrison, Alanna and Dehghan, Abbas and Franco, Oscar H and Hofman, Albert and Rivadeneira, Fernando and Sijbrands, Eric J and Uitterlinden, Andr{\'e} G and Mychaleckyj, Josyf C and Campbell, Archie and Hocking, Lynne J and Padmanabhan, Sandosh and Brody, Jennifer A and Rice, Kenneth M and White, Charles C and Harris, Tamara and Isaacs, Aaron and Campbell, Harry and Lange, Leslie A and Rudan, Igor and Kolcic, Ivana and Navarro, Pau and Zemunik, Tatijana and Salomaa, Veikko and Kooner, Angad S and Kooner, Jaspal S and Lehne, Benjamin and Scott, William R and Tan, Sian-Tsung and de Geus, Eco J and Milaneschi, Yuri and Penninx, Brenda W J H and Willemsen, Gonneke and de Mutsert, Ren{\'e}e and Ford, Ian and Gansevoort, Ron T and Segura-Lepe, Marcelo P and Raitakari, Olli T and Viikari, Jorma S and Nikus, Kjell and Forrester, Terrence and McKenzie, Colin A and de Craen, Anton J M and de Ruijter, Hester M and Pasterkamp, Gerard and Snieder, Harold and Oldehinkel, Albertine J and Slagboom, P Eline and Cooper, Richard S and K{\"a}h{\"o}nen, Mika and Lehtim{\"a}ki, Terho and Elliott, Paul and van der Harst, Pim and Jukema, J Wouter and Mook-Kanamori, Dennis O and Boomsma, Dorret I and Chambers, John C and Swertz, Morris and Ripatti, Samuli and Willems van Dijk, Ko and Vitart, Veronique and Polasek, Ozren and Hayward, Caroline and Wilson, James G and Wilson, James F and Gudnason, Vilmundur and Rich, Stephen S and Psaty, Bruce M and Borecki, Ingrid B and Boerwinkle, Eric and Rotter, Jerome I and Cupples, L Adrienne and van Duijn, Cornelia M} } @article {7913, title = {GWAS and colocalization analyses implicate carotid intima-media thickness and carotid plaque loci in cardiovascular outcomes.}, journal = {Nat Commun}, volume = {9}, year = {2018}, month = {2018 12 03}, pages = {5141}, abstract = {

Carotid artery intima media thickness (cIMT) and carotid plaque are measures of subclinical atherosclerosis associated with ischemic stroke and coronary heart disease (CHD). Here, we undertake meta-analyses of genome-wide association studies (GWAS) in 71,128 individuals for cIMT, and 48,434 individuals for carotid plaque traits. We identify eight novel susceptibility loci for cIMT, one independent association at the previously-identified PINX1 locus, and one novel locus for carotid plaque. Colocalization analysis with nearby vascular expression quantitative loci (cis-eQTLs) derived from arterial wall and metabolic tissues obtained from patients with CHD identifies candidate genes at two potentially additional loci, ADAMTS9 and LOXL4. LD score regression reveals significant genetic correlations between cIMT and plaque traits, and both cIMT and plaque with CHD, any stroke subtype and ischemic stroke. Our study provides insights into genes and tissue-specific regulatory mechanisms linking atherosclerosis both to its functional genomic origins and its clinical consequences in humans.

}, keywords = {ADAMTS9 Protein, Amino Acid Oxidoreductases, Carotid Intima-Media Thickness, Coronary Disease, Genetic Predisposition to Disease, Genome-Wide Association Study, Humans, Lod Score, Plaque, Atherosclerotic, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide, Quantitative Trait Loci, Risk Factors}, issn = {2041-1723}, doi = {10.1038/s41467-018-07340-5}, author = {Franceschini, Nora and Giambartolomei, Claudia and de Vries, Paul S and Finan, Chris and Bis, Joshua C and Huntley, Rachael P and Lovering, Ruth C and Tajuddin, Salman M and Winkler, Thomas W and Graff, Misa and Kavousi, Maryam and Dale, Caroline and Smith, Albert V and Hofer, Edith and van Leeuwen, Elisabeth M and Nolte, Ilja M and Lu, Lingyi and Scholz, Markus and Sargurupremraj, Muralidharan and Pitk{\"a}nen, Niina and Franz{\'e}n, Oscar and Joshi, Peter K and Noordam, Raymond and Marioni, Riccardo E and Hwang, Shih-Jen and Musani, Solomon K and Schminke, Ulf and Palmas, Walter and Isaacs, Aaron and Correa, Adolfo and Zonderman, Alan B and Hofman, Albert and Teumer, Alexander and Cox, Amanda J and Uitterlinden, Andr{\'e} G and Wong, Andrew and Smit, Andries J and Newman, Anne B and Britton, Annie and Ruusalepp, Arno and Sennblad, Bengt and Hedblad, Bo and Pasaniuc, Bogdan and Penninx, Brenda W and Langefeld, Carl D and Wassel, Christina L and Tzourio, Christophe and Fava, Cristiano and Baldassarre, Damiano and O{\textquoteright}Leary, Daniel H and Teupser, Daniel and Kuh, Diana and Tremoli, Elena and Mannarino, Elmo and Grossi, Enzo and Boerwinkle, Eric and Schadt, Eric E and Ingelsson, Erik and Veglia, Fabrizio and Rivadeneira, Fernando and Beutner, Frank and Chauhan, Ganesh and Heiss, Gerardo and Snieder, Harold and Campbell, Harry and V{\"o}lzke, Henry and Markus, Hugh S and Deary, Ian J and Jukema, J Wouter and de Graaf, Jacqueline and Price, Jacqueline and Pott, Janne and Hopewell, Jemma C and Liang, Jingjing and Thiery, Joachim and Engmann, Jorgen and Gertow, Karl and Rice, Kenneth and Taylor, Kent D and Dhana, Klodian and Kiemeney, Lambertus A L M and Lind, Lars and Raffield, Laura M and Launer, Lenore J and Holdt, Lesca M and D{\"o}rr, Marcus and Dichgans, Martin and Traylor, Matthew and Sitzer, Matthias and Kumari, Meena and Kivimaki, Mika and Nalls, Mike A and Melander, Olle and Raitakari, Olli and Franco, Oscar H and Rueda-Ochoa, Oscar L and Roussos, Panos and Whincup, Peter H and Amouyel, Philippe and Giral, Philippe and Anugu, Pramod and Wong, Quenna and Malik, Rainer and Rauramaa, Rainer and Burkhardt, Ralph and Hardy, Rebecca and Schmidt, Reinhold and de Mutsert, Ren{\'e}e and Morris, Richard W and Strawbridge, Rona J and Wannamethee, S Goya and H{\"a}gg, Sara and Shah, Sonia and McLachlan, Stela and Trompet, Stella and Seshadri, Sudha and Kurl, Sudhir and Heckbert, Susan R and Ring, Susan and Harris, Tamara B and Lehtim{\"a}ki, Terho and Galesloot, Tessel E and Shah, Tina and de Faire, Ulf and Plagnol, Vincent and Rosamond, Wayne D and Post, Wendy and Zhu, Xiaofeng and Zhang, Xiaoling and Guo, Xiuqing and Saba, Yasaman and Dehghan, Abbas and Seldenrijk, Adrie and Morrison, Alanna C and Hamsten, Anders and Psaty, Bruce M and van Duijn, Cornelia M and Lawlor, Deborah A and Mook-Kanamori, Dennis O and Bowden, Donald W and Schmidt, Helena and Wilson, James F and Wilson, James G and Rotter, Jerome I and Wardlaw, Joanna M and Deanfield, John and Halcox, Julian and Lyytik{\"a}inen, Leo-Pekka and Loeffler, Markus and Evans, Michele K and Debette, Stephanie and Humphries, Steve E and V{\"o}lker, Uwe and Gudnason, Vilmundur and Hingorani, Aroon D and Bj{\"o}rkegren, Johan L M and Casas, Juan P and O{\textquoteright}Donnell, Christopher J} }